{"id":329,"date":"2013-01-09T14:20:06","date_gmt":"2013-01-09T14:20:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bard.edu\/mba\/?p=329"},"modified":"2013-01-09T14:26:59","modified_gmt":"2013-01-09T14:26:59","slug":"the-resurrection-the-carbon-tax-returns-by-brady-mccartney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bard.edu\/mba\/2013\/01\/09\/the-resurrection-the-carbon-tax-returns-by-brady-mccartney\/","title":{"rendered":"The Resurrection: The Carbon Tax Returns? by Brady McCartney"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Reposted from TriplePundit<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>President Barack Obama\u2019s reelection has shifted the formal and informal U.S. Congressional debate from the election to the most immediate issue concerning the 112th<\/sup>\u00a0Congress:\u00a0the Budget Control Act of 2011<\/a>\u00a0and \u201cthe fiscal cliff<\/a>.\u201d While TriplePundit readers have a number of reasons to pay attention to the debate, perhaps the most interesting is the resurrection of a \u201ccarbon tax\u201d as a potential tool to reduce the country\u2019s budget deficit.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A carbon tax, if implemented by Congress, would levy a fee on the production, distribution, or use of fossil fuels based on the carbon content of their combustion emissions. The fee would require producers, distributors, and users of carbon-rich fuels to account more fully for the cost of their pollution to society.<\/p>\n

Not included in the 111th<\/sup>\u00a0Congress\u2019s\u00a0American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009<\/a>\u00a0that passed the House before stalling in the Senate, a carbon tax has been viewed as a non-starter by many Republican and Democratic Congressional leaders. However, some form of a carbon tax may be the budget and climate policy tool most ready for implementation as Congress begins fiscal cliff negotiations.<\/p>\n

Somewhat surprisingly, the carbon tax seems to have found more supporters in the fossil fuel industry than in Congress. For example, in a speech given to the Economic Club of Washington, D.C.,\u00a0Exxon Chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson stated<\/a>, \u201cAs a businessman, I have to take a deep breath every time I speak about this, because it\u2019s hard for me to speak favorably about any new tax.\u00a0I hope you see it shows how serious we are about this issue.\u00a0A revenue-neutral carbon tax has the advantage of being well focused for achieving our society\u2019s shared goal of reducing emissions over the long term.\u201d Royal Dutch Shell, Unilever, Swiss Re and more than 100 other corporations have echoed this sentiment, calling for \u201ca clear, transparent and unambiguous price on carbon emissions\u201d in \u201cThe Carbon Price Communiqu\u00e9<\/a>\u201d recently released by the Prince of Wales\u2019s Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change.<\/p>\n

It remains to be seen whether fossil fuel companies and other Fortune 500 companies will use their influence on Capitol Hill to advocate for a carbon tax in a potential fiscal cliff agreement, or if some of these companies simply see their support of a non-starter idea as a useful public relations tool. At the very least, though, Congressional negotiators on both sides of the aisle can no longer invoke unanimous industry opposition as a reason for inaction now that companies like Exxon have publicly voiced support for a carbon tax. Perhaps, the overshadowed actor in this exchange is the growing natural gas industry, which may push Congress to enact a carbon tax rather than a greenhouse gas emissions tax that might tax methane emissions and, thus, methane-rich natural gas. And, it cannot be forgotten that both\u00a0Exxon<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Royal Dutch Shell<\/a>\u00a0have become major players in the natural gas industry.<\/p>\n

Regardless, it is interesting to see how quickly the policy environment adjusted as new constituencies for a carbon tax developed and climate circumstances changed after Hurricane Sandy. Exxon, Royal Dutch Shell, and\u00a0the American Enterprise Institute\u2019s dialogues<\/a>\u00a0with the International Monetary Fund, Resources for the Future, and others certainly present the possibility that new alliances may be forged.\u00a0 Perhaps, the resurrection of a carbon tax means there is even a chance for\u00a0the hybrid carbon tax\/cap-and-trade policy<\/a>\u00a0developed by the Brooking Institution\u2019s Warwick McKibbin and Peter Wilcoxen.<\/p>\n

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Only time will tell whether a carbon tax will become law, but Congress must deal with the fiscal cliff before the year is out.\u00a0 Necessity may remain the mother of invention.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

The author, Brady McCartney, is currently a dual MBA\/MS degree candidate at\u00a0Bard College\u2019s MBA Program in Sustainability<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Center for Environmental Policy<\/a>.\u00a0Brady has worked as an eco-districts researcher atSPUR<\/a>, energy efficiency consultant at\u00a0Bard College<\/a>, and sustainable housing client manager for homeless men and women at\u00a0North Beach Citizens<\/a>. Follow Brady on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

[Image credit:\u00a0White House<\/a>, Flickr]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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