Broad Support for Pricing Carbon

Often when CCL volunteers meet with an elected official to advocate for Carbon Fee and Dividend, we are asked who else supports it.  Fortunately, we are able to respond that there is a lot of support, both for Carbon Fee and Dividend in particular, and for pricing carbon in general.  Below is a sampling of the broad support for pricing carbon and for acting on climate change.

Local endorsers of CCL’s Carbon Fee and Dividend

• Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor
• Washtenaw County Commissioner Yousef Rabhi
• Mark Clevey, Vice Chair, Ann Arbor Energy Commission
• Ann Arbor Energy Commission
• Jonathan Levine, Professor of Architecture and Urban Planning
• SUR Energy, LLC
• Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association

A few of the national / prominent organizations and municipalities endorsing CCL’s Carbon Fee and Dividend

• Mars, Inc.
• San Francisco, CA
• Santa Fe, NM
• Salt Lake City, UT
• Philadelphia, PA

Prominent individuals who endorse CCL’s Carbon Fee and Dividend (all members of the CCL Advisory Board)

• Former Secretary of State George Shultz
• Dr. James Hansen, former Director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies
• David W. Titley, professor of meteorology at Pennsylvania State University, NOAA’s chief operating officer from 2012-2013, former chief oceanographer of the U.S. Navy
• Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, Director Climate Science Center, Texas Tech University
• Don Cheadle, actor, humanitarian
• Dr. Shi-Ling Hsu,Associate Dean for Environmental Programs at the Florida State University College of Law. He teaches and writes in the areas of environmental and natural resource law, climate change, law and economics, and property.

Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company has a detailed sustainability report which includes the company’s views on climate change policy.  Their statement reads, in part:

We believe we need a comprehensive, market-based approach to reducing GHG emissions if the U.S. is going to reduce emissions at the lowest cost per ton. An economy-wide program would provide flexibility to regulated entities while allowing market mechanisms to determine where GHG reductions can be achieved at the lowest cost … Thoughtful and comprehensive national energy and climate policy that provides a price signal is needed to support the billions of dollars being invested in low-carbon and fuel-efficient vehicle technologies.

Thirty-two notable individuals call on Paris climate negotiators to tax carbon

On the eve of the of the UN climate summit, a letter urging negotiators to implement carbon taxes was signed by 32 prominent individuals, including four Nobel Laureates, three former U.S. cabinet secretaries who served under four Presidents (from both major political parties), two former vice-chairs of the Federal Reserve System’s board of governors, and three distinguished faculty members from Harvard University’s economics department.  The letter and list of signers is available here.

ExxonMobil

ExxonMobil’s Statement on COP 21, includes the following explanation:

ExxonMobil believes that effective policies to address climate change will put a price on greenhouse gas emissions and will:

• Ensure a uniform and predictable cost of greenhouse gas emissions across the economy;
• Let market prices drive the selection of solutions;
• Minimize regulatory complexity and administrative costs while maximizing transparency;
• Promote global participation; and
• Provide flexibility for future adjustments in response to scientific developments and the economic consequences of climate policies.

ExxonMobil has for many years held the view that a revenue-neutral carbon tax is the best option to fulfill these key principles. Instead of subsidies and mandates that distort markets, stifle innovation, and needlessly raise energy costs, a carbon tax could help create the conditions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in a way that spurs new efficiencies and technologies.

Six oil majors ask for carbon pricing in open letter to UN

In an open letter to France’s Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius, and Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), six major European oil companies — BG Group, BP, Eni, Royal Dutch Shell, Statoil and Total — call for a price on carbon. The full letter can be read here.

Our companies are already taking a number of actions to help limit emissions … For us to do more, we need governments across the world to provide us with clear, stable, long-term, ambitious policy frameworks. We believe that a price on carbon should be a key element of these frameworks.

Open letter from 79 CEOs to world leaders urging climate action and carbon price

An open letter signed by 79 CEOs of companies from 20 economic sectors, called on governments to take bold action to address climate change, and suggested that effective policy must include carbon pricing.  CEOs from Dow Chemical, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Nestlé, and IKEA are among the signers.  The full letter is available here.

We believe that effective climate policies have to include explicit or implicit prices on carbon achieved via market mechanisms or coherent legislative measures according to national preferences, which will trigger low-carbon investment and transform current emission patterns at a significant scale.

Climate Declaration

The Ceres.org Climate Declaration states, “Tackling climate change is one of America’s greatest economic opportunities of the 21st century (and it’s simply the right thing to do).”  The declaration has been signed by over 1000 companies, and the list continues to grow.  View the current list here.  Prominent Michigan signers include General Motors, Kellogg’s, and Crystal Mountain.

Members of Congress

While we do not have a list of members of Congress who support Carbon Fee and Dividend, there are many representatives and senators who have stated support for addressing climate change.  First, several bills have been introduced, all by Democrats, which call for a price on carbon.  Here are the bill names and sponsors: