If you are an investor, the risks of climate change should matter to you. That’s the message from the Risky Business Project, led by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, billionaire financier Tom Steyer and former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. These business and political leaders have come together to quantify the economic costs. Judy Woodruff talks to Paulson about the project.
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Risky Business Project quantifies climate change costs
Global weirding has begun. We still have time to act, but not an indefinite amount of time:
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Produced by the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme and Globaia and funded by the UN Foundation. The data visualization summarises and visualizes several of the most significant statements in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) recent Fifth Assessment Report, (Working Group I summary for policymakers, the Physical Science Basis). In 2014, IPCC will publish summaries concerning societal impacts, mitigation and adaptation.
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SAN DIEGO, MARCH 3, 2014 – An aggressively-priced carbon tax in California, with revenue returned to the public, would actually grow the state’s economy and increase jobs, according to a new study released by Citizens Climate Lobby.
The study, prepared for CCL by Regional Economic Models, Inc. (REMI), looked at the economic impact of revenue-neutral taxes that start low and level off at $50-, $100- and $200-per-ton on carbon-dioxide emissions. In each case, the study examined two methods of revenue return – across the board cuts to income, sales and corporate taxes (ATB) and direct payments to households through a fee and dividend (FAD) system.
Under the most aggressive scenario – a carbon tax steadily rising to $200 per ton of carbon-dioxide by 2035 – the study found that the “tax swap” could add 300,000 jobs in California, increase annual GDP in 2035 by $18 billion, increase annual income by $16 billion by 2035, and reduce carbon emissions to less than 75% of 1990 levels.
“Detractors have said over and over that a carbon tax will tank the economy and kill jobs,” said Mark Reynolds, Executive Director of Citizens Climate Lobby. “This study blows that assumption out of the water. It shows that a carbon tax will actually create jobs and be good for the economy, provided the revenue from that tax is recycled back into the economy.”
Under the Fee and Dividend scenario – revenue returned directly to households – the $200-per-ton tax would see a net gain of 236,000 jobs in California by 2035 with GDP up by $2.5 billion annually.
The REMI study does not suggest that a carbon tax should replace California’s cap-and-trade system set up under AB 32. In fact, the study says “it is perfectly possible for the two to coexist and reinforce the same objectives of reducing carbon emissions (both policies).”
Last summer, REMI prepared a similar report about the effect of revenue-neutral carbon taxes in Massachusetts – the highest scenario $45 per ton of CO2 – which found that, like the California study, the state would see an increase in jobs and GDP. Since then, three of the five Democratic candidates for governor in Massachusetts have announced their support for a carbon tax.
“Economists from both ends of the political spectrum have argued that a carbon tax, with revenue returned to the public, is the most efficient and effective way to reduce emissions that are changing our climate,” said Reynolds. “We now have the studies to back up those assertions, and there will be more to come.”
Citizens Climate Lobby, a non-partisan advocacy organization with more than 150 chapters in North America, advocates for a national revenue-neutral carbon tax and will hold its 5th international conference in Washington D.C. June 22-24 2014. CCL plans to have volunteers meet with every congressional office on Capitol Hill.
More links:
Think Progress: Surprise! Even a Crazy-High Price On Carbon Would Help California Businesses
406 Billion dollars in government subsidies go to the fossil fuel industry per year to create 7 million jobs globally. Renewable energy provides 5.7 million jobs already, but with 60 Billion dollars, less than one sixth of government support.
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Read more at International Renewable Energy Agency’s website.
Take action at EndFossilFuelSubsidies.org
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Thank you, President Obama, for using your “bully pulpit” to publicly confirm the accuracy of climate science. Now, what the world needs is action based on the science, not business as usual:
Obama’s Hopelessly Wrong On The Environment: Here’s The Reality of What We Face. (Alternet.org)
The HawkkeyDavis Channel on YouTube does an excellent job of compiling extreme weather events from around the world at regular intervals during the year. Here’s the end-of-the-year compilation for 2013. As the video’s description notes, this is not viewing for the faint of heart; all kinds of extreme weather events are escalating both in frequency and in severity. Is there any doubt at all, folks, that it’s time to tax our climate-destabilizing carbon emissions with a straight-forward, bureaucracy-free, revenue-neutral carbon fee and dividend? I don’t think so. To find out how you can be part of the change, go to CitizensClimateLobby.org or (in Canada) CitizensClimateLobby.ca.
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For this week’s TED Talk Tuesday, former Republican Congressman Bob Inglis spoke at TEDx Jacksonville earlier this year about energy and climate. Mr. Inglis is now the Executive Director of the Energy and Enterprise Initiative based at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, and is a champion of carbon fee and dividend.
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Like to hear more from Mr. Inglis? He was the guest speaker on the Citizens Climate Lobby monthly teleconference call in June, 2012. Click here to listen to that call.
“If you think mitigated climate change is expensive, try unmitigated climate change.”
Dr. Richard Gammon, University of Washington, speaking to the US Congress, June 28, 1999
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Economic losses from extreme weather events have risen from an annual global average of about $50 billion in the 1980s to close to $200 billion over the last decade, according to the report released last week by the World Bank. Click here to read full story.
