For decades, there has been a false argument about "environment versus the economy" regarding global warming and the resulting climate disruption. Environmentalists want to reduce carbon dioxide to slow climate change. Conservatives want to protect the economy and have held that climate change action would be detrimental.
For too long it has seemed like it was an either-or choice. Now a group of respected Republican statesmen and successful business leaders have proposed a plan which can meet the goals of economists and environmentalists in dealing with climate change. The authors include former Secretary of State James Baker III, former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr., and former Wal-Mart Chairman Rob Walton.
Their plan, "The Conservative Case for Carbon Dividends" from the Climate Leadership Council (CLC), found at clcouncil.org, outlines a climate solution based on a carbon dividends program. Their proposal will strengthen the economy, create jobs, reduce regulation, help American families, reduce government, promote national security, and reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution. Their mission "is to mobilize global opinion leaders around the most effective, popular and equitable climate solutions."
The CLC plan contains four pillars: 1. A gradually increasing carbon tax; 2. carbon dividends for all Americans; 3. border carbon adjustments; and 4. significant regulatory rollback with respect to carbon dioxide emissions. Some economists and environmentalists will no doubt find fault in some aspect of the proposal. But overall it is an equitable plan for most and will significantly reduce CO2 emissions and provide positive benefits to the economy.
This plan is based on the mounting evidence of climate change which has become too strong to ignore. Authors of the plan realize we need an insurance policy for the risks associated with climate change. Because Republicans have looked the other way, they have forfeited climate policy to regulations. The CLC calls for Republicans to now seize this opportunity to institute serious climate action and regulatory reform.
The Climate Leadership Council calls for a carbon tax based on carbon dioxide pollution emissions when fossil fuels first enter the economy: well, mine or port. The tax starts at $40 per ton of emissions and steadily rises each year. Money collected is equally returned to Americans in quarterly payments or dividends. With the example above, a family of four would receive about $2,000 in the first year. American businesses are protected with a tax on imports from countries that do not have one. Administration of the dividends program would be by the Social Security Administration. According to the recent analysis, "Methodology for Analyzing a Carbon Tax," from the Treasury Department, the bottom 70 percent of Americans come out ahead under a carbon dividends program.
The CLC's plan has solid economic support. Nationally recognized REMI (Regional Economic Models Inc.) recently completed studies on economic impacts of carbon tax in the U.S. and Arkansas, as well as a number of states. The economy grows and CO2 decreases more than with the Clean Power Plan.
Additionally, over 30 nations price carbon. In 2008, British Columbia passed a carbon tax. CO2 emissions fell, fossil-fuel consumption decreased, and the economy remained robust. But with implementation of the CLC's carbon dividends plan, America can lead the world in carbon-reduction action and provide the leadership for CO2 cuts which can make a significant difference.
Trading the Clean Power Plan for a carbon tax is a good compromise. Replacing the Obama-era climate regulations with a carbon dividends program starting at $40/ton would yield far greater emissions reductions, and meet our Paris commitment.
It will help grow the economy, improve health, and reduce CO2 emissions. A nationwide carbon tax is the fairest way to reduce emissions. It is applied to all sources which emit CO2. The Clean Power Plan focuses only on electrical generation. A carbon tax is market-based and doesn't pick energy winners or losers!
This carbon dividends strategy will help working-class Americans because the money returned will be an economic stimulus. Carbon dividends would motivate entrepreneurs for innovation to a low-carbon energy society.
The economy will not be harmed by the CLC's dividends policy; it will be helped. This policy meets the goal of reduction of global warming more quickly than any regulatory plan proposed. Let us come together on making our world more livable.
After decades of inaction on climate change, we are poised to achieve significant CO2 reduction. Let us follow the long-forgotten American principle which makes our country great: compromise.
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Robert McAfee lives in Hackett.
Editorial on 04/06/2017