In this week’s “Make Me Smart” newsletter, we explain the latest moves to establish a credible global market for carbon credits. Plus, we do the numbers on open enrollment and the rising cost of health care.
The News Fix
Ground rules for a global carbon market. Delegates from more than 200 countries gathered in Azerbaijan this week for the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference. On Day 1, they announced a framework for countries and businesses to buy and sell carbon credits in a transparent, credible United Nations-operated market, which has been in the making since the Paris climate accord of 2015.
Proponents hope carbon markets can help Paris Agreement signees to meet their collective goal to limit long-term global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius, a goal that seems less and less achievable based on meteorological data.
Carbon markets set a price on polluting,with one carbon credit equaling a tonne (about 2,220 pounds) of planet-heating emissions that’s either removed from the atmosphere or prevented from entering it. Companies or countries can buy credits to offset their emissions by investing in projects that protect carbon sinks, like old-growth forests, or replace high-polluting energy with climate-friendly alternatives, like wind or solar.
High-quality versus low-quality credits. Carbon markets are controversial because they’re historically rife with fraud and have yielded poor results. In voluntary carbon credit markets, companies and projects tend to exaggerate the impact of credits on emissions. Researchers found in 2023 that of the 89 million carbon credits tied to forest conservation, only 5.4 million truly reduced emissions.
At the climate summit, governments approved international standards that will help calculate how many credits a specific project can receive. This is a crucial move forward to verify projects that receive carbon credit funds actually deliver their promised results.
Smart in a shot
The election is over, but our series “Decoding Democracy” is still covering how politics interacts with Big Tech.On the sidelines of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems meeting last week, Kimberly Adams caught up with Nadine Farid Johnson, policy director at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. They talked about the kinds of online speech the First Amendment protects (and doesn’t) and what American policymakers can learn from democracies around the world.
Watch their conversation. Then, catch up with the whole series on our YouTube channel.
The Numbers
It’s that time of year again to sign up for health care benefits, and most Americans won’t feel too jolly about the higher price tags. Let’s do the numbers on open enrollment and the cost of health care.
4
The four primary ways people access health care in the U.S. include employer-sponsored insurance plans, public or private plans directly purchased through Affordable Care Act marketplaces, Medicare for those 65 and older and Medicaid. Nearly 11% of adults under 65 in the U.S. had no insurance at the end of the second quarter of this year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
$25,572
That was the average family premium for employer-sponsored health insurance in 2024, according to a KFF survey. Employees contributed $6,296 toward those premiums, on average, or about $524 per month.
7% to 8%
That’s how much more the average worker is likely to pay toward their premiums starting in 2025.
57.4 million
That’s the number of Americans under 65 — about 2 in 5 adults with private insurance — whose medical conditions could make them eligible for GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic. Insurers cited the costs of these drugs as one reason for raising premiums.
$0
People buying their own health insurance via ACA marketplaces can get free local help to select the right plan.
$1 in $5
That’s how much of the federal budget is spent on health care. It’s a likely target for Republicans who have vowed to cut government spending, especially Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which together provide coverage to nearly 80 million low-income people, including a large portion of adults with disabilities. Republicans are also likely to let enhanced ACA subsidies expire in 2025, which would increase the maximum that middle-income households pay for ACA plan premiums from 8.5% of their annual income to 20% or more.
None of us is as smart as all of us
Tell us what’s making you smarter at smarter@marketplace.org. We’d love to include your recommendation in a future newsletter.
From $7.3 billion to $650 million
Three years after buying food delivery app Grubhub, Just Eat Takeaway announced it was selling off the company for less than 10% of what it paid. Editor Tony Wagner is reading an Associated Press article about the latest big move in the “food delivery war.” Bonus read: Marketplace recently profiled the buyer, delivery startup Wonder.
Broker fees, be gone!
New York City’s real estate market is infamous for its high prices and high broker fees, with up to 15% of the annual rent going to a real estate agent before move-in. Producer Ariana Rosas is reading a Curbed article about a new law that will ban agents from charging tenants for their landlord’s expenses.
Ice cream activism
Ice cream maker Ben & Jerry’s filed a lawsuit this week accusing its parent company, Unilever, of muzzling its attempts to express support for Palestinian civilians and refugees. Producer Aleezeh Hasan recommends a CNN article that details the values rift between the two.
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