By Alex Moreira and Mark Reynolds, Citizens’ Climate Lobby
The amount of heat-trapping emissions humans have spewed into our atmosphere since last Earth Day was 10 percent less than a typical year, a cause for celebration if not for fact that the reduction in carbon pollution will be short lived as the global economy rebounds from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Though emissions were down, the impact of climate change in 2020 was more devastating than ever. The Atlantic hurricane season broke records for the number of named storms with 30: so many that the World Meteorological Organization ran out of names and had to use the Greek alphabet. AccuWeather estimates the economic fallout from these storms to be between $60 billion and $65 billion.
The 2020 storm season also saw the rise of another troubling phenomenon associated with climate change — rapid intensification of storms, which can leave coastal communities in the path of deadly hurricanes with little time to evacuate. Rapid intensification is caused by increasingly warmer ocean temperatures.
Florida was impacted by four of these storms including Hurricane Eta, which first hit the Keys and then caused flooding in Levy County. Moreover, we are already seeing the impacts of sea-level rise in Florida with sunny day flooding and cities scrambling to adapt. In Florida, we also experienced record-breaking heat in 2020.
While hurricanes wreaked havoc in the East, wildfires raged in the West, where dry conditions and record temperatures contributed to one of the worst fire seasons. U.S. wildfires burned a total of 10.27 million acres in 2020, killed at least 43 people and caused damages reaching $16.5 billion.
The human and monetary toll is considerably higher when the health impact of smoke-filled skies is taken into account. A study looking at the 2018 wildfire season in California found that when the indirect impact of smoke is considered — hospitalizations, lost wages, etc. — the economic damage was $150 billion.
Winter provides no respite from climate change. The rapid warming of the Arctic, scientists say, played a role in weakening the jet stream that contains the polar vortex. This weakening allowed sub-freezing temperatures to reach all the way to the Gulf Coast of Texas earlier this year, knocking out electricity and heat to millions.
The frequency of disasters afflicting nearly every part of the country will continue to rise with temperatures. Unless ambitious steps are taken to curtail the emissions of warming gases, these catastrophes will outpace our ability to adapt and recover.
Among the numerous tools needed to bring down emissions, a robust price on carbon is the most effective and foundational. The key is to set a price high enough to move investments and behavior toward a rapid transition to a clean energy economy. By returning revenue to households, thereby protecting Americans from the economic impact of higher energy costs, we can establish a price that gets the job done.
The end game is to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Only then will we be able to imagine a world where each Earth Day doesn’t mark a year of worsening climate impacts. A recent study by Columbia University economists estimated the level and timing of a carbon price to meet that goal. The price would need to reach between $34 and $64 per metric ton of CO2 by 2025 and between $77 and $124 by 2030.
Several bills that employ the fee-and-dividend approach to carbon pricing fall within the range needed to achieve the needed emissions reductions:
- The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act in the House sponsored by Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL-22)
- The America’s Clean Future Fund Act in the Senate sponsored by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL)
- The American Opportunity Carbon Fee Act sponsored by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), expected to be introduced soon
By cosponsoring these bills, U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott and Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar can help to ensure that Congress implements this critical tool this year.
Half a century ago, the first Earth Day kicked off a movement that led to cleaner air and water for all Americans. This year’s Earth Day comes at a time when more and more Americans have personally felt the impacts of climate change. It’s time for Congress to act, and an ambitious price on carbon is a big step in the right direction.
Alex Moreira is a member of the Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) Miami Chapter as well as Business Climate Leaders (BCL), the corporate engagement team of CCL. He spent 18 years in banking and today works with sustainable finance channeling capital towards climate mitigation and adaptation. Mark Reynolds is the Executive Director of Citizens’ Climate Lobby.
“The Invading Sea” is the opinion arm of the Florida Climate Reporting Network, a collaborative of news organizations across the state focusing on the threats posed by the warming climate.
Bravo, Alex and Mark for an excellent op-Ed in The Invading Sea.
In the five years since the Paris Agreement, 60 of the world’s largest banks have invested more than $3.8 TRILLION into the fossil fuel industry. Legally. By the book. Breaking no rules. THIS is why we must focus on policy changes that hasten an exodus of capital away from the fossil fuel industry. Without a high price on carbon, it simply makes no financial sense for investors to divert trillions in capital AWAY from fossil fuels, and to redirect that capital toward catapulting clean energy and low-carbon solutions.
Until this happens, the digging continues. To decarbonize our future, de-profitize carbon. First.
If you get the policy right, what *follows* is skyrocketing demand for clean energy and related solutions like energy efficiency, green building, materials reuse, and innovation. Higher energy prices will drive this large-scale demand. In turn, the demand will attract more capital investment. We’re not going to subsidize our way out of the climate emergency. We must animate private capital. Sending a price signal into the market is exactly what the experts have been saying must happen first. If we are to follow the science-based directives of experts, the scientists, including the IPCC, and the consensus of economists – the greatest number to agree on any topic, ever – this must start with making fossil fuels more expensive. That’s the way the world’s most famous climate scientist, Dr. James Hansen puts it.
The climate emergency is a systemic, global, equity issue. We cannot fix this on the backs of the poor. Returning the money equally to all households disproportionately benefits low- and middle-income families. This plan protects the poor from rising prices and gives them more money to spend on the things they need. And that’s why this plan has been modeled to create over 2M+ new jobs in the first 10 years. Winners win big. Losers lose small. Winners are the ~2/3 of lower-income families. But even higher-income Americans, those not ‘made whole’ by the monthly cashback “prebates” would also be induced to save energy.
Instead of traditionally regressive mandates, or a regressive carbon tax, this FEE & DIVIDEND model is progressive, designed with equity in mind. The result would be increased American jobs, ingenuity, innovation, and competition. With the Energy Innovation Act as the backbone policy to a clean energy transition, along with other complementary policies, we have a chance to meet the IPCC’s 2050 net-zero goal.