May 29, 2019
Oil companies, automakers and consumer products manufacturers will unleash a campaign for a U.S. tax on carbon dioxide emissions even though it may lead to higher prices for their products according to a May 20, 2019 Bloomberg report.
Oil companies BP Plc and Royal Dutch Shell Plc are giving $1 million each to the Americans for Carbon Dividends advocacy campaign, underwriting its efforts to persuade Congress to enact a politically conservative carbon tax-and-dividend plan. Ford Motor Co. is signing on as a founding member of the group developing its underlying initiative, the Climate Leadership Council.
BP and Shell’s contributions are going to a campaign for a carbon tax-and-dividend plan that’s already being underwritten by oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp., renewable power producer EDF Renewables Inc., and nuclear power generator Exelon Corp.
The initiative they’re backing would impose a predictable, nationwide price on carbon dioxide emissions — starting at $40 per ton — with the promise of deeper reductions in greenhouse gases than would be achieved through existing laws. For businesses, the plan also promises two potent prizes: a shield against climate-related lawsuits tied to past, legal emissions, and the end of federal regulations targeting greenhouse gas releases.
Under the plan, carbon tax revenue would be redistributed to households in the form of quarterly dividend checks — an idea endorsed by economists as a way to help poor and middle-income Americans, insulating them from higher energy costs. Shell Oil Co. President Gretchen Watkins called the campaign’s carbon dividend push “well thought out” and said she hoped it “leads to legislation that establishes a national price on carbon.”
“It is by far the broadest climate coalition in U.S. history,” said Ted Halstead, head of the Climate Leadership Council. Members of the group are “coalescing around a consensus bipartisan climate solution that would far surpass the U.S. Paris commitment, that would far exceed the reductions of all prior carbon regulations combined and that would be pro-business, pro competitiveness and pro-growth.”
What this means to you
Oil companies, automakers and consumer products manufacturers will unleash a campaign for a U.S. tax on carbon dioxide emissions even though it may lead to higher prices for their products. Under the plan, carbon tax revenue would be redistributed to households in the form of quarterly dividend checks
MIRATECH can help
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