CCL – Burlington is made of a small, but dedicated group of climate pragmatists. We are always looking for more members. We had our group start up workshop yesterday. One of the big things we covered was CCL's proposed legislation:
Revenue- neutral carbon fee and dividend. It is the fastest and most efficient solution to the climate crisis.
What is a carbon fee and dividend? Here are the five basic points:
1. A fee would be charged on all fossil fuels at the source of extraction such as mine, wellheads, and at the border for imports.
2. The fee would cost $15 per ton of CO2 emissions and increase by $10 every year. The fee is structured to meet emission reduction targets set forth by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to avoid catastrophic climate change.
3. Knowing that energy producers will pass on this fee to customers, the dividend portion of the program would return 100% of the fee revenue to American households to help them pay for increased fossil fuel based energy.
4. Economists have been studying the carbon fee and dividend and estimate that two thirds of households will break even or receive more in their dividend check than what their increased energy costs will be. This protects the low and middle classes. Wealthy households, which typically consume the most energy, will pay the highest fees and see less return.
5. A carbon fee and dividend will level the playing field for energy sources. The fee will send clear market signals to invest and innovate in clean, renewable energy.
These are just the basic points of the policy, you can find many more statistics and details at citizensclimatelobby.org
I will go into further detail in future posts.
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