Carbon fee would help with climate

With devastating wildfires simultaneously ravaging in Canada, Washington state and Greece, we see that climate change will provoke increasingly destructive weather until we enact effective climate solutions (“Firefighters in Greece have discovered the bodies of 18 people in an area struck by a major wildfire,” Aug. 22). One policy that would meaningfully lower emissions is a carbon fee and dividend. That’s a fee placed on carbon at the point of extraction and the revenue redistributed to households on an equal basis. This would help lower and middle income households manage rising product and energy prices.

We should also have a “carbon border adjustment mechanism,” which similarly places a carbon tax on imported products from countries that lack an equivalent carbon tax. This would prevent American companies from simply moving internationally or having to compete with foreign companies that don’t face carbon fees. An annually increasing fee would provide the market signal that companies appreciate to plan

for their energy transition, so companies would work toward zero carbon dioxide emissions more quickly and effectively. This is one of the best ways to help our planet, but only if we do it well.

It’s great that U.S. Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen have already expressed support for pricing and capping carbon emissions. But it’s vital that they push for the most robust and equitable carbon fee and dividend system possible. I also ask that we, as constituents, express support for this policy by writing letters and emails to our legislators or through advocacy groups like Citizens’ Climate Lobby. We should never stop reminding our representatives how important this is for our state and country.

— Daniel Coxson, Olney