Carbon Pricing in the Press

Updated September 2021

The Philadelphia Inquirer (9/28/2021): “Carbon pricing would impose a fee on carbon emissions, creating an economy-wide incentive to transition away from high-carbon energy and embrace cleaner alternatives. Instead of allowing fossil fuel companies to continue to emit for free — at great cost to our economy — carbon pricing would provide a clear market signal to speed the transition to clean energy.

No other policy mechanism would work as cost-effectively to boost energy innovation and guide the economy in a cleaner direction. In fact, experts suggest that carbon pricing of just pennies per pound of CO2 would deliver far greater emissions reductions than any other climate tool.”

The Hill (9/27/2021): “Congress is deliberating on the reconciliation proposal right now, which gives us an opportunity to take meaningful action to calm our climate. Reconciliation presents an opportunity to enact a carbon fee and dividend, which can help us raise revenue, reduce carbon emissions, and curb climate change. We need to put a price on carbon pollution if we are serious about tackling the climate crisis. 

Congress needs to go big now, or we will all suffer unimaginable climate consequences. I encourage my congressional colleagues, on both sides of the aisle, to join me and support putting a price on carbon in a bipartisan way. “ (Salud Carbajal, D-CA)

Washington Examiner (9/15/2021): “The primary evidence for this is a leaked Finance Committee document listing a bunch of different revenue-raising provisions under consideration, including a “per-ton tax on the carbon dioxide content of fossil fuels upon extraction,” starting at a modest $15 per ton and escalating over time.

According to the document, any price on carbon would also be paired with “rebates or other direct relief for low-income taxpayers” and “a border adjustment to ensure foreign companies also pay the tax.”

Forbes (8/4/2021): “Climate change is an all-hands-on-deck crisis. The problem comes from many quarters of Spaceship Earth, and while many solutions can help solve it, none of them can do it alone. Vegan diets and paper straws alone won’t save the planet. We need high-impact, large-scale policy change to redirect our economy away from fossil fuels, synergize with other solutions, and catalyze the transition to a clean energy economy. 

Economists, leading voices in the business community, and many others believe that the most promising single policy solution is a price on carbon.“

Deseret News (6/4/2021): “We support a carbon dividends approach that puts a fee on carbon emissions and returns all the money to the American people in dividend checks. This approach does not require heavy-handed government oversight. The fee gives the markets an incentive to move to cleaner technologies, while the dividend protects families from the effect of higher energy prices. Most families should come out financially ahead, and they will be rewarded for reducing emissions however they choose. All will benefit from the cleaner air that will result from these policies.“ (Op Ed penned by 25 Utah Republicans)

Washington Post (3/21/2021): “market-based incentives should be part of any climate legislation, for reasons of policy and politics alike. Democrats need more than their side to get a comprehensive bill. They need 10 Republican votes to reach 60 in the Senate. The only other option is using reconciliation, a parliamentary maneuver that allows budget-related bills to pass the Senate by a simple majority. But climate mandates would not qualify for reconciliation.”

Senator Mitt Romney (2/23/2021): “I'm very open to a carbon tax, carbon dividend, where there's a tax on oil companies and coal companies and so forth,” Romney said during a virtual event with The New York Times. “And the funds that are raised then go to individual taxpayers so they can meet the costs of the higher price of energy.” Also Senator Lisa Murkowski (October 2020).

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (2/3/2021): In a major report titled Accelerating Decarbonization of the U.S. Energy System, the Academies’ expert panel “landed on a major economic lever to make the transition to net zero . . . an escalating federal carbon tax that starts by imposing a $40 tax on every ton of carbon emissions this year. It would raise an estimated $2 trillion by 2030 to provide revenues to pay for the policy moves and rebates to help disadvantaged groups from being overburdened by the tax. . . . [T]he report said that an economy-wide price on carbon ‘would unlock innovation in every corner of the economy and send appropriate signals to encourage a cost effective route to net zero.’”

U.S. Chamber of Commerce (1/19/2021): Martin Durbin, the president of the Chamber of Commerce’s Global Energy Institute, wrote that the group now “supports a market-based approach to accelerate greenhouse gas emissions reductions across the U.S. economy. . . . Clearly, there is consensus favoring a market-based approach, as opposed to a command-and-control regulatory approach. That is clearly the preferable path.”

Electric Power Supply Association (2/3/2021): “In support of President Joe Biden's goal of slowing global warming, the Electric Power Supply Association has released policy objectives focusing on eliminating subsidies for legacy assets, promoting carbon pricing, adopting economy-wide electrification and establishing an impartial clean energy standard. . . . [EPSA board Chairman Curt] Morgan emphasized that a carbon price should be substantial – on the order of $40/ton, escalating over time, with rebates to those who cannot afford the extra cost.”

American Petroleum Institute (3/2/2021): “The risks of climate change are real,” API’s annual report said. “Market-based policies can foster meaningful emissions reductions across the economy at the lowest societal cost. An example can be carbon pricing—balancing reducing GHGs with flexibility and pacing to keep energy affordable.”

Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen (1/22/2021): “I am fully supportive of effective carbon pricing and I know that the President is as well,” Yellen said in written answers to Senate Finance Committee members' questions . . . “We cannot solve the climate crisis without effective carbon pricing.”

Business Roundtable (Addressing Climate Change, September 2020): “Business Roundtable supports a market-based emissions reduction strategy that includes a price on carbon where it is environmentally and economically effective and administratively feasible . . . This approach would reduce the administrative complexity and uncertainty associated with a regulatory approach to limiting emissions and help ensure that U.S. companies remain competitive. It would also send an important market signal that would lead to greater efficiency; technological innovation; and deployment of the low-, no- and negative-GHG emissions technologies that will be necessary for reducing GHG emissions by at least 80 percent by 2050.”