The week of April 12, more than a dozen Republican and Democratic senators returned to Capitol Hill and sat down with executives from major companies such as GM, IBM, Ford, and Procter & Gamble. The message: We want you to support a carbon tax.
The meetings were set up by the Climate Leadership Council, which has proposed a measure that would establish a $40-per-ton carbon fee and a border carbon adjustment, and would return the proceeds of the levy to all taxpayers as “dividends.” Greg Bertelsen, the Council’s CEO, said, “No other climate policy will go further in lowering emissions, stimulating innovation across the economy, boosting American competitiveness and supporting families than carbon dividends… Business leaders are committed to addressing our climate challenge, and the consensus among them is that a carbon price is a central part of the solution."
“Carbon pricing proposals have continued to proliferate on Capitol Hill,” reported Nick Sobczyk of E&E News. He cited measures introduced by Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Rep. Marie Newman (D-Ill.), who is the lead sponsor of H.R. 2451, a House companion to Durbin's "America's Clean Future Fund Act." This legislation would price carbon at $25 per ton, increasing $10 over inflation annually, with much of the revenue sent back out in dividend checks. Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) introduced his latest carbon fee bill with 35 Democratic co-sponsors on April 1.
“Big companies across the board have ramped up their climate advocacy in preparation for action from the Biden administration,” Sobczyk wrote, “and now many are calling for ambitious national targets ahead of the president's Earth Day summit on April 22.” Biden has invited 40 nations to participate in the two-day event, which will be streamed live and available to the public.
More than 300 businesses, including Google, McDonalds and Walmart, are pushing the Biden administration to nearly double the United States’ target for cuts to planet-warming emissions. They sent a letter to President Biden April 13.
“Millions of Americans are already feeling the impacts of climate change,” they wrote. “From recent extreme weather to deadly wildfires and record-breaking hurricanes, the human and economic losses of the past 12 months alone are profound. Tragically, these devastating climate impacts also disproportionately hit marginalized and low-income communities who are least able to withstand them. We must act now to slow and turn the tide.
“As business leaders, we care deeply about the future of the U.S. and the health of its people and economy.” The businesses employ nearly 6 million American workers across all 50 states, representing over $3 trillion in annual revenue. Those in the group who are investors represent more than $1 trillion in assets under management.
“Organizers of the business letter,” The New York Times’ Lisa Friedman reported, “said they hoped such a message coming from the private sector — including electric utilities like Exelon and Pacific Gas & Electric, as well as dozens of companies based in Republican districts — would resonate strongly with Congress.”
“I think this signals a major shift in the corporate community’s understanding of the urgency of climate change as a systemic financial risk,” Anne Kelly, vice president for government affairs at the sustainability nonprofit Ceres, told Friedman. Ceres organized the letter.
Patrick Flynn, vice president of sustainability for Salesforce, which signed on to the letter, said he hopes businesses will lobby Congress to support the Biden administration’s target. “We know it will create millions of jobs, we know it’s a good thing for the economy, and we know if we do it right we can do it in a way that leaves no one behind,” he said.
Carbon pricing has won support recently from the Business Roundtable, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the American Petroleum Institute. Some champions of strong national action on climate have noted such organizations’ opposition to climate legislation in the past and questioned their commitment to the cause. But there’s nothing to be gained by dwelling on the past or on motivation; anyone willing to put an oar in the water should be welcomed aboard.
Support for carbon pricing, which is stronger in Europe and other parts of the world than it is in Washington, needs additional advocates. John Kerry, Biden's special climate envoy, said earlier this month that the president “believes that at some point in time we need to find out a way to have a price on carbon that’s effective." Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is another long-time proponent of a carbon tax. We are continuing to meet with members of Congress and their aides to make the case that, in one form or another, an honest price on carbon has to be one of the tools the nation uses to counter climate change.