ExxonMobil

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The Washington Post: Advantages of a Carbon Fee

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The No. 1 reason that a carbon fee (or tax) has political potential is that it offers Congress flexibility. Lawmakers could opt for the Shultz and Summers’s proposal and treat all their constituents to a quarterly dividend. Or they could use the sizable revenue such a fee would generate to reduce the high corporate tax rate or some other tax. Yet another option is to plow that money into infrastructure, aid for coal-dependent communities, clean energy and other priorities.

Like Congress, the business community can also see value in such a fee, as illustrated by the support of General Motors, ExxonMobil, Procter & Gamble and other major corporations. Its simplicity, efficiency and reliance on the free market make a carbon fee superior to other climate-change solutions, and business executives are not in denial about the changing climate. Let’s hope that the business community will use its influence to convince Congress that pricing carbon is not only good for Americans’ health but is also smart economics and smart politics.

William C. Eacho, Washington

The writer is co-founder of the Partnership for Responsible Growth.

 

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Climatewire: Exxon and a Carbon Tax

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Exxon Mobil Corp. commands attention and gets it.

So energy and climate experts naturally took notice last week when CEO Darren Woods said charging a fee on greenhouse gases across the United States is a good idea.

"A uniform price of carbon applied consistently across the economy is a sensible approach to emissions reduction," Woods said in a statement (Climatewire, Feb. 24).

Bloomberg Markets: Exxon's New Chief Endorses Carbon Tax to Combat Climate Change

In his first blog post since succeeding Rex Tillerson, the new head of Exxon Mobil Corp. focused on climate change, calling for a carbon tax to discourage use of polluting fuels.

New York Times: Exxon Favors a Carbon Tax

Re “At Exxon, Nominee Steered Company’s ‘Evolution’ on Climate” (news article, Dec. 29):

Exxon Mobil supports a carbon tax as the best approach for policy makers because it would ensure a uniform and predictable cost of carbon across the economy, allow market forces to drive solutions and maximize transparency to stakeholders.

Boston Globe: Making a Fair Deal on Carbon

Last month, 196 countries reached a landmark consensus agreement in Paris to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to slow global warming, agreeing to work toward capping a global temperature increase to 2 degrees Celsius.