Carbon Pricing

Received an e-mail this morning from the Climate Crisis Coalition regarding this conference.

Wesleyan Statement: Carbon Pricing Principles Action to protect global climate is vital. Our national climate policy must reflect:

• A PRICE ON CARBON. To be effective, a price on carbon (whether a fee or tax) needs to be direct, upstream, steadily increasing, and calibrated to reduce emissions to levels called for by climate science consensus, with border adjustments or other mechanisms to reflect differences in carbon prices and policies in other nations.

• A DIVIDEND OR TAX REDUCTION TO CONSUMERS. The vast majority of revenues are to be returned to consumers, either directly ("dividend") or via tax reductions ("tax shift"), with a small portion allocated to a single fund for climate purposes such as transition assistance for affected communities; international adaptation, mitigation, research, and development; low-carbon energy research; and targeted cost-effective energy efficiency investments.

• DELIBERATE FEEDBACK. Effective carbon pricing policy must provide predictable long-term price expectations with periodic incremental adjustments to reflect –

a) updated findings in the peer-reviewed climate science literature, and

b) the observed effectiveness of carbon pricing and other policies in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

An example of legislation that embodies these principles is America's Energy Security Trust Fund Act by Rep. John B. Larson