Carbon dividend acts as protection

The time has come to stop emitting carbon.

From the authors of “Drawdown,” to leading climate scientists like James Hansen, to the world’s most renowned economists, aggressive carbon pricing is understood to be the single most powerful means of shifting the nation’s capital, its wealth, from carbon to carbon-free energy.

We need an aggressive carbon tax like the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, starting at $15 a ton and rising $10 a ton annually.

Why is a price on carbon so powerful? Some sectors of the economy require targeted investment, like a national grid, energy storage research and development, or electrification of flight. These work sector by sector. An upstream carbon tax hits carbon everywhere it resides within the economy, leaving no carbon stone unturned.

The beauty of the EICDA is that while it is aggressive at cutting emissions, it is specifically designed to protect the poor and middle classes. The two-thirds with the smallest carbon footprints, those with the least consumption, get back more in the dividend than they pay because of the fee.

The monthly check to every individual with a Social Security or Individual Taxpayer Identification number ensures that climate action remains politically enduring. The monthly carbon dividend ensures everyone is aware of and invested in decarbonizing. With every month’s check, we are each reminded that preserving our climate is not only the morally right thing to do, it is the economically right thing to do and the economically fair and just thing to do. Claire Cohen-norris Glen Spey