“Anyone who fears that the fight against climate change suffered a fatal blow when the United States elected a climate change skeptic should spend a couple of hours with some of the business leaders who are charging ahead toward a no-carbon future,” said William C. Eacho, after he spoke at the winter conference of the U.S. Business Council for Sustainable Development (BCSD).

“The conversations I had with representatives of General Motors, Ingersoll Rand, Entergy, ABB, and many other companies boosted my confidence that we will achieve the goal that scientists say we must,” said Eacho, co-founder of the Partnership for Responsible Growth (PRG). “But that doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy.”

Eacho delivered the keynote speech at the conference, hosted by Duke’s Fuqua School of Business January 11 and 12. He made the case that with the Trump administration so fervently opposed to federal regulations, a free-market climate solution makes more sense than ever. He also pointed out that the job growth that carbon-funded tax cuts would generate, plus the boost to American global competitiveness, would appeal to President-elect Trump.

A carbon fee would provide a number of benefits besides helping us combat climate change, he told the business audience. “The new administration and the new Congress are eager to create an infrastructure program, cut taxes, and take other steps. But somehow we need to pay for these initiatives--or the national debt will shoot up even faster. A carbon fee of $35 per metric ton, with annual increases, could bring in $2 trillion over ten years. There’s no alternative revenue stream that’s even close.”

While Eacho was speaking at Duke, a coalition of eight business and environmental groups was issuing the Business Backs a Low-Carbon USA statement. More than 530 companies and 100 investors have signed the statement, addressed to President-elect Trump, President Obama, members of Congress, and “global leaders.” Business Backs a Low-Carbon USA kicked off in December 2015 with a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal urging U.S. and international leaders to adopt an ambitious climate agreement in Paris.