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Pictured: Over 1,500 Citizens Climate Lobby volunteers who regularly descend on Capitol Hill – at their own expense – and visit almost every member of Congress (500+ meetings) annually, urging our lawmakers to act on climate by enacting a bold climate policy that's effective, good for people and the economy. Throughout the year, dedicated CCLers have multiple lobby meetings with their Represetatives, now via Zoom. Pricing carbon is a consensus policy solution among thousands of top economists and leading scientists, and recently an emerging group of very prominent business groups too, including Business Roundtable, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Electric Power Supply Association, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Carbon Pricing: the climate policy response where all sides can win

"Don't tell me it's impossible. Tell me you can't do it." - Dean Kamen

The consensus is in. Experts, economists from across the political spectrum, agree:

• the #1 most effective way to reduce global emissions is to make pollution more expensive. Undo the biggest free lunch in history.
  * - President Ronald Reagan and Economist Milton Friedman agree: They've both said 'taxing the polluter' is more effective than more gov't regulations.
• the most efficient method is to rebate all the money back to consumers. This protects consumers, creates jobs, helps the economy, saves lives -- without growing government, and ensures plan durability. Experts agree, the least burdensome, most straightforward, and most market-friendly means of addressing climate change is to price the risks imposed by greenhouse gas emissions via a tax. This would harness price signals, rather than regulations, to guide market response. That is why carbon pricing has the support of free market economists, a majority of the global business community, and a large number of the largest multinational private oil and gas companies in the world (the corporate entities among the most directly affected by climate policy).

The answer: a revenue-neutral a cash-back carbon tax; the carbon fee & dividend - like the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act. / How this works in 2-minutes.

The call to put an honest price on carbon is coming from all directions:

Learn about the conservative-friendly Carbon Dividends plan now.

The World Bank Carbon Pricing Dashboard

WHERE in the world is carbon pricing happening?

Why Swarthmore College Endorses a Carbon Price (CCL's Higher Education Action Team)

100 state & local governments pass resolutions for CF&D - Citizens' Climate Lobby

5 conservatives arguing for a price on carbon.

Download a list of leaders who endorse bold climate action and pricing carbon, including national security leaders, energy companies, business associations, conservative thought leaders, newspapers, municipalities and healthcare leaders.

Border Tariff Adjustments

A revenue-neutral price on carbon emissions is considered the Holy Grail of climate action by most thought leaders, including many leading companies.	Click here to view a list of Nations, States, Cities, Businesses and Investors who support carbon pricing. (PDF document)
http://lowcarbonusa.org	"Seventy-four countries, 23 subnational jurisdictions, and more than 1,000 companies and investors expressed support for a price on carbon ahead of the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Summit."

Prominent economists embrace pricing carbon as THE solution to decrease GHG emissions:

• George Shultz (former Secretary of Labor, Secretary of Treasury, and Director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Richard Nixon, Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan, and presently a Distinguished Fellow at the Hoover Institution)
• Art Laffer (a founding father of supply-side economics and former member of President Ronald Reagan’s Economic Policy Advisory Board)
• Prof. Greg Mankiw (Harvard University and former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors under President George W. Bush)
• Aparna Mathur (American Enterprise Institute)
• Prof. John Cochrane (Stanford University and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution)
• Prof. Tyler Cowen (George Mason University and Chairman of the Mercatus Center)
• Douglas Holtz-Eaken (President of the American Action Forum and former Director of the Congressional Budget Office in the Republican 108th Congress)
• Prof. Martin Feldstein (Harvard University and former Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors under President Reagan)
• Alan Greenspan (former Chairman of the Federal Reserve under Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton)
• Kevin Hassett (American Enterprise Institute)
• Prof. Glenn Hubbard (Columbia University and former Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors under President George W. Bush)
• Irwin Stelzer (Senior Fellow and Director of the Economic Policy Studies Group at the Hudson Institute and founder of National Economic Research Associates)
• Alan Viard (American Enterprise Institute and former senior economist at the Council of Economic Advisors under President George W. Bush)

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• World Bank Group President, Jim Yong Kim - “There is a growing sense of inevitability about putting a price on carbon pollution. In order to deliver on the promises of the historic Paris climate agreement, a price on carbon pollution will be essential to help cut emissions and drive investments into innovation and cleaner technologies.” (WaPo April 22 Article)
• Kim also said: “a price on carbon is the single most important thing” and that putting a price on carbon would “unleash market forces, [allowing] the movement towards tackling climate change to feed on itself.” (video)

• John Roome, Sr. Director for Climate Change programs, World Bank Group - “We’ve now got carbon pricing on the radar screen in a way it hasn’t been before. We’re moving from why to how.”
• I.M.F. Managing Director Christine Lagarde called carbon pricing the “crown jewel” of efforts to mitigate climate change: “And to our economists, who have been studying this for quite some time, there is an equally obvious consensus that putting a price on carbon pollution is by far the most powerful and efficient way to reduce emissions. We strongly urge people to prepare for the carbon pricing that is to come.”

Robert Rubin (Co-Chairman; Council on Foreign Relations, Former Secretary of the U.S. Treasury) says: "Climate change is the greatest threat facing humanity today. To avoid catastrophe, we must dramatically reduce the carbon intensity of our modern energy systems, which have set us on a collision course with our planetary boundaries." (Also endorses pricing carbon)

More statements from conservatives

Niskanen Center's compilation of endorsements.

ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson's endorsement

One Minute: Carbon Tax* explained:

Carbon tax: A cheap, proven fix to climate change

*You might call it a 'tax' but... George Shultz says:

Fee & Dividend model explained by Billy Nye, George Shultz, Robert Reich

The Fee and Dividend plan is considered by many thought-leaders on both sides of the political aisle as the most effective solution to reducing greenhouse gasses. A fee + dividend plan is consistent with conservative economic principles. F&D has the endorsement of leading economists, top scientists, and leading economic policy analysts, including Republican icon, Secretary George Shultz, President Reagan's Treasury Secretary, Secretary of Labor, and Secretary of State. The Shultz-Becker Carbon Tax proposal is explained in this WSJ article.

Robert Reich explains Fee and Dividend in 2½ minutes.

REMI Report's General Findings (PDF).
Regional Economic Models, Inc. is a leading economic modeling company with sector clients including energy, universities, municipalities and more.

Highlights:

• CO2 emissions decline 33% after only 10 years, and 52% after 20 years relative to the baseline, $0/ton of CO2 case.
• National employment increases by 2.1 million jobs after 10 years, and 2.8 million after 20 years. This is more than a 1% increase in total US employment we don’t get without a carbon fee!
• 13,000 lives are saved annually after 10 years, with a cumulative 227,000 American lives saved over 20 years.
• $70-$85 billion increase in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from 2020 on, with a cumulative increase in national GDP due to F&D of $1.375 trillion.
• Maximum cost-of-living increase by 2035 is 1.7-2.5%, depending on region. That’s 1 year’s normal inflation spread over 20 years!

The take-home from this study is that Carbon Fee & Dividend grows the economy in terms of jobs and GDP, while at the same time also reducing the country’s emissions and improving citizens’ health.

Outcomes:

PERFORMANCE COMPARISON:
EPA Clean Power Plan vs. COP21 Paris Accord vs. "Carbon Fee Rebate" (Shultz-Becker plan)

We have three choices:

The libertarian argument for a carbon tax https://t.co/WmbGp2YuUO

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 29, 2016

Some prefer a "tax swap" which reduces income taxes

British Columbia has been doing this since 2008 with GREAT success.

The revenue-neutral carbon tax could be a workable policy framework for countries around the world – and be the policy most likely to preserve the ability of every sector of society to seek new efficiencies and technologies. The province of British Columbia in Canada has instituted a carbon tax that offers policymakers a model of what such a system might entail."

Former Congressman Bob Inglis, founder of:

Bob Inglis visits Miami for screening of "Merchants of Doubt" with
John Englander, Coral Gables Jim Cason, and Miami republicEn.org group.

• More than 430 companies around the world have already set internal prices for their carbon emissions. In 2014, the number of companies setting an internal price for carbon stood at just 150. Another 583 companies say they will adopt carbon pricing in the next two years.

• 74 countries, 23 sub-national jurisdictions, and more than 1,000 companies and investors expressed support for a price on carbon in advance of COP21.

• Even BIG OIL is on board. In Stunning Reversal, "Big Oil" Asks for Carbon Price (PDF)
  

• How putting a price on carbon saved Microsoft $10 million a year
  
  
• Why'd Microsoft do this?
• How'd Microsoft determine the price?
  
  

Exxon Mobil endorses a revenue-neutral carbon tax. ExxonMobil: "Our analysis shows that a revenue-neutral carbon tax would be the most effective approach." from ExxonMobil, Paris, and carbon policy | ExxonMobil's Perspectives Blog

In just 5 minutes, ExxonMobil CEO, Rex Tillerson explains the benefits of a transparent, predictable "refundable GHG emissions fee." (read it here)

• ExxonMobil has for many years held the view that a revenue-neutral carbon tax is the best option to fulfill these key principles. Instead of subsidies and mandates that distort markets, stifle innovation, and needlessly raise energy costs, a carbon tax could help create the conditions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in a way that spurs new efficiencies and technologies."
  

• “We will never get this (COP21) transition going at the pace people want without a price on carbon.” - Shell Oil President, Marvin Odum (link)
  
  
• Steve Williams, the president and CEO of Suncor, one of the largest oilsands players, started things off by stating it is time to “stop talking and take action” by levying a significant tax on carbon that would be paid not just by industrial emitters but by consumers as well; the same model adopted by British Columbia. (link)
  
  
  

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Jerry Taylor, President

Taylor was a Sr. Fellow at CATO Institute.

After 23 years, Taylor left the CATO Institute amid excessive Koch Brothers influence and formed the Niskanen Center, a libertarian think-tank focusing a few very important areas, including climate change. "The Conservative Case for a Carbon Tax" (PDF) is a provocative piece of thought-leadership re: the most popularly held, market-based alternative to expensive and ineffective regulations. (Most thought-leaders agree.)

• In just 10 minutes, Taylor makes the conservative case for pricing carbon:
  
• Hear the full call:
  
• The Conservative Case for a Carbon Tax: Q&A With Jerry Taylor and Mark Tercek, President of The Nature Conservancy
• Niskanen Center's follow-up: The Problem with the Skeptics' Argument
• How a Professional Climate Change Denier (Jerry Taylor) Discovered the Lies and Decided to Fight for Science

Video:

The Conservative Case for Acting on Climate: Why Putting a Price on Carbon Matters
A Conversation with Jerry Taylor | Carsey School of Public Policy