Wanted: Political Will to Save Our Planet
It is frustrating to see Washington waffle on critical climate policy. The NY Times recently reported Senator Manchin’s decision not to support the Clean Energy Performance Program. With this, we see the promise of a rapid transition to clean, renewable electricity fade. This failure in political action, not technology, is the biggest problem in addressing climate change. However, there is still hope for an effective climate policy in the budget reconciliation to achieve similar outcomes and reduce emissions by 50% by the end of this decade.
A price on carbon with some or all of the revenues from the fee returned to individuals, also known as Carbon Cashback or Carbon Fee and Dividend, is such a policy. This policy addresses emissions effectively and meets President Biden’s call for scaling down the cost of the reconciliation package as this policy has only minor impacts on the Federal budget. Several leaders support this policy, among them, Rep. Kahele who co-sponsored the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act (H.R. 2307) earlier this year, and Senator Schatz, who co-sponsored the Save Our Future Act (S.2085), a pricing bill that includes a rebate to individuals.
A gradually increasing carbon price placed on fossil fuels far upstream in the economy (e.g., the oil well and the ports) will create broad market pressure to aggressively shift from fossil fuels to cleaner alternatives, which become relatively cheaper over time. Carbon pricing will create new jobs and incentivize renewable energy, energy efficiency, clean transportation, and sustainable consumption.
Revenue from the carbon price distributed equally to individuals as dividends will help the financially vulnerable absorb the cost increases in high carbon products. These folks are disproportionately impacted financially (as well as physically) by climate change but have a smaller carbon emissions footprint, so they will pay less in carbon fees than they receive in dividends. Thus, on average, they benefit proportionally more from this policy. They can benefit further if they transition to lower polluting products, e.g., trading a gas-guzzler for a more efficient car. The revenue can also be directed at fossil fuel workers to assist them in transitioning to jobs in clean energy and other sectors.
Implementing a carbon price will help U.S. businesses avoid paying a tariff or border adjustment when trading with countries that already have a carbon price. (Canada and the EU have announced plans for border adjustments.) On the other hand, a carbon price will make way for the U.S. to install a border adjustment to protect our businesses and inspire more countries to take serious climate action.
We must do several things to control global warming and deal with the inevitable consequences of climate change. Thankfully, many are stepping up and taking action, but these have not been enough – atmospheric CO2 concentration continues its steep rise, and we don’t have much time to avoid dreaded tipping points. We need more intense action, particularly from businesses, and we need policies that give them a financial incentive to do so. Pricing carbon pollution is an effective way to turn off the emissions spigot by inducing changes in consumer and producer behaviors to conserve energy, become more energy-efficient, and switch to cleaner technologies. In addition, pricing carbon will provide the necessary incentive for US businesses to invest in and bring the clean technologies that we need to market. The US has an opportunity to include this policy in the budget reconciliation.
We still can secure a livable world for our kids and their descendants, but Congress needs to act.
Let's demand effective climate action from our leaders in Washington. You can help by requesting our President and members of Congress to support carbon pricing in the reconciliation package. Visit citizensclimatelobby.org/get-loud-take-action to encourage support. You can also tweet your request to @DearPOTUS46.
