The Business Case for Carbon Pricing

In this episode of Political Climate, we speak to leaders of the Citizens’ Climate Lobby about how to get a carbon price passed.

Julia Pyper October 03, 2018

Julia Pyper

Senior Editor
Greentech Media

Julia Pyper is a Senior Editor at Greentech Media covering the energy transition. She is also the host and producer of the Political Climate podcast. She previously reported for E&E Publishing, and has covered clean energy and climate change issues across the U.S. and abroad, including in India, Haiti, Israel and the Maldives. She holds degrees from McGill and Columbia Universities. Find her on Twitter @JMPyper.

Is a federal carbon price worth pursuing in a politically divided United States? We hear the case for why it is.

Advocates say an economy-wide carbon tax would send a clear market signal to emitters, while accounting for the externalities and risks that fossil fuels pose to the U.S. economy. The concept aligns with classic conservative principles of small government and rooting out solutions in the free-market.

But for all the talk of markets and economics, most Republican lawmakers find the idea of a carbon price toxic.

And yet, in recent months, several conservative carbon-tax proposals have emerged at the national level, including legislation introduced by Republican Representative Carlos Curbelo, and they're shaking up the usual partisan dynamics around climate action.

As the Trump administration continues to roll back Obama-era climate policies, climate activists from across the U.S. are moving forward with a national carbon pricing proposal that they believe can gain bipartisan support.

In this episode, we speak to leaders of the Citizens' Climate Lobby, a nonpartisan, grassroots advocacy group focused on drumming up political momentum to pass a carbon fee and dividend proposal. They make the business case for carbon pricing and explain why they believe a bipartisan federal carbon bill can — and eventually will — get passed.