Carbon Tax

tax on energy sources which emit Carbon Dioxide

A national carbon tax in the U.S. has been repeatedly proposed, but never enacted. For instance, on 23 July 2018, Representative Carlos Curbelo (R-FL) introduced H.R. 6463,[117] the "MARKET CHOICE Act", a proposal for a carbon tax in which revenue is used to bolster American infrastructure and environmental solutions.[118] The bill was introduced in the House of Representatives, but did not become law.[119] A number of organizations are currently advancing national carbon tax proposals. To address concerns from conservatives that a carbon tax would grow government and increase cost of living, recent proposals have centered around revenue-neutrality. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_tax

Energy Policy attempt to mitigate Climate Change

one example: Gas Tax

Sam Penrose's bookmarks on Carbon Accounting (cf Energy Accounting): https://pinboard.in/u:sampenrose/t:carbonaccounting/

• Sam also suggested reading David Roberts, such as http://grist.org/climate-energy/ten-reasons-a-carbon-tax-is-trickier-than-you-think/

Carbon fee and dividend - Wikipedia

Variant of carbon tax that restricts revenue use to direct payments to the people

The system imposes a carbon tax on the sale of fossil fuels, and then distributes the revenue of this tax over the entire population (equally, on a per-person basis) as a monthly income or regular payment.

Since the adoption of the system in Canada and Switzerland, it has gained increased interest worldwide

revenue-neutral

Social justice and acceptability. While there is broad scientific consensus that a carbon tax is the most powerful way to reduce emissions, such a tax necessarily increases prices and the cost of living. By handing out the revenue of this tax as a universal climate income, the price rise is largely compensated. It has been calculated that in total, low and middle incomes would go up under a system of climate income

Market based and cross-sector. Unlike complex regulatory approaches, a fossil fuel fee allows market forces to reduce emissions in the most efficient and cost effective way.

The Swiss carbon tax redistributes around two thirds of its revenue to residents, including children, and to businesses (in proportion to their payroll). The remaining third is invested in a building energy efficiency program and a clean technology fund.

The carbon tax applies only to fossil fuels used to generate heat, light or electricity in the building sector and parts of the industry sector. Sectors excluded from the scheme (transport, agriculture, waste and around 60% of the industry sector) are instead regulated under either the Swiss Emissions Trading Scheme or the non EHS program. Overall, the carbon tax accounts for around one third of greenhouse gas emissions in Switzerland.

Canada

Four provinces and two territories currently operate a form of carbon fee and dividend in Canada.

Political support: United States

Carbon fee and dividend is the preferred climate solution of Citizens' Climate Lobby (CCL).

A Carbon Dividends plan has been proposed by the Climate Leadership Council

Several 2020 presidential candidates have publicly shared their support of the fee and dividend policy, including Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, Andrew Yang, and John Delaney.