HOW DO COMPANIES PROFIT BY DENYING CLIMATE CHANGE?

Emitting CO2 has to become expensive,” says Joachim Wenning, chairman of the board of management of the Munich Re Group, one of the world’s largest reinsurers. Munich Re has been investigating the cost and repercussions of climate change since the 1970s. Wenning confirms environmental agency estimates that a ton of CO2 causes damage of around $200. That is far more than corporations currently pay in carbon taxes in the countries that impose them. (At present Germany charges only $25 per ton, while Switzerland charges $90 for each ton.) In addition, the exploitation of fossil fuels is still subsidized in many countries. According to conservative estimates, the U.S. directly subsidizes the fossil fuel industry to the tune of $20 billion per year (“your tax dollars at work”), while the European Union subsidies are estimated to total more than $60 billion annually. The subsidies make the continued extraction of fossil fuels more feasible and attractive. Munich Re’s Wenning would like to see corporations having to pay a carbon tax of at least $128 per ton—a figure that might encourage them to seriously consider the transition to renewable energy.