[A] coalition of mayors from four states in the Northeast including Vermont are calling on state lawmakers to put a price on carbon.
The mayoral coalition is proposing a multi-state “carbon pollution fee” on fossil fuels from the heating and transportation sectors to curb greenhouse gas emissions, Weinberger said in an interview Friday. He unveiled the proposal Saturday at the Vermont Energy and Climate Action Network’s annual conference in Fairlee.
The mayors are asking state lawmakers to enact carbon fee and rebate programs that will be effective, equitable and “pro-economic growth.” They have not prescribed policy details like what the carbon tax should be or how the revenues would be returned.
“I have felt in recent weeks that there’s greater urgency around [climate change] than ever before,” Weinberger said.
“You have these terrible events around the country,” he said. “Whether it’s the horrific fires on the West Coast, the hurricanes in the Southeast, huge algae blooms impacting drinking water in the Midwest … that have raised the public’s concern and created a moment where I think perhaps change is possible.”
Amid federal inaction and in some cases backpedaling in climate action, devastating climate change predictions and accompanying calls for action have routinely made headlines this fall. The recently released fourth congressionally mandated national climate assessment says that climate change could cost the U.S. billions of dollars in damaged infrastructure, reduced crop yields and other economic impacts.
Carbon pricing greenhouse gas emissions is gaining traction as an effective way to curb fossil fuel emissions, Weinberger said. He pointed to the Nobel Prize committee’s decision to award this year’s economic sciences prize to two U.S. economists who have advocated for a global carbon tax as a sign that public sentiment is changing.
While cities like Burlington, which has a 100 percent renewable power portfolio, are leading on environmental issues, “there’s a limit to what can be achieved from municipal action alone,” Weinberger said.
So far, six mayors from Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York have signed on. The other Vermont mayors are Anne Watson from Montpelier and Seth Leonard from Winooski.
“Cities are too practical to deny climate science, because we see the effects of it on the ground,” Watson said in a statement Saturday. “Pricing carbon is the most expedient and obvious solution to climate change, and now is the time for expedient solutions.
By law, Vermont is required by 2028 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent of what emissions were in 1990. Emissions have increased in recent years, however, with the most recent data from 2015 showing emissions 16 percent higher than the 1990 target.
The heating and transportation sectors, which do not have standards akin to Vermont’s renewable standards for electricity, contributed over 70 percent of the state’s carbon dioxide emissions in 2015, according to the state’s latest greenhouse gas data.
The group of mayors is not the only coalition calling on the legislature to advance climate change legislation next session. Earlier this month, a group of Vermont environmental and low income advocates issued a policy platform that includes implementing the Joint Fiscal Office’s recommended carbon pricing tool.
The JFO hired D.C.-based economic consultant Resources for the Future this fall to study how different carbon pricing tools, like a carbon fee and cap and trade programs, would lower greenhouse gas emissions while promoting economic development. Their final recommendation will come out in January.
Weinberger said a carbon fee and rebate program makes the most sense for Vermont, noting that the state does not have the high emitting industries targeted under some cap and trade programs. He pointed to British Columbia’s carbon tax program, in which the provincial government levies a tax on gasoline, diesel and natural gas in tandem with a tax credit for individuals and businesses, as a model.
While Weinberger reached out to mayors from neighboring states to make this a regional effort, he said he thinks Vermont “should lead” by becoming the first state in the union to enact a carbon fee. Washington state voters rejected a carbon pricing measure this Election Day.
Last session, the ESSEX plan — the carbon fee and rebate program put forth by a coalition of environmental and business leaders — did not make it out of legislative committees. Critics, including the governor, said that the fee on fossil fuels could harm Vermont’s economy and adversely impact lower income and rural Vermonters. Rebecca Kelley, the governor’s spokesperson, said earlier this month that the governor remains opposed to a carbon tax, adding that he will consider other recommendations in the JFO’s forthcoming report.
Weinberger said the mayors want to implement a gradual fee that would include rebates to shield lower and moderate income Vermonters from increased fossil fuel costs. The mayors also hope that putting a price on carbon emissions will spur investments in clean energy technologies.
For example, Burlington has been trying for years to use waste heat produced by the city’s wood-powered McNeil Generating Station to set up a district heating system. While city institutions like the University of Vermont have expressed interest in the proposal, which is almost “a financially viable choice,” it is still more expensive than their current modes of heating, said Weinberger.
“A carbon pollution fee would change that formula,” he said.
