Purpose
- Investigates the causes of economic imbalances.
- Investigates the effect of the global financial system and/or the monetary system in fostering a sustainable economy.
- Investigates causes tending to destroy or impair the free-market system.
- Explores and develops market-based solutions.
Summary
The Pricing Carbon Initiative (PCI) will continue with its mission, to build support for bipartisan carbon pricing solutions, designed to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, make US goods more competitive with nations imposing Carbon Border Measures, and foster understanding and cooperation between a wide range of organizations and opinion leaders. Specifically, the Walker Foundation funding this year will assist PCI, begun in 2011, with projects informed by the day-long Pricing Carbon Dialogue on January 23, at Brookings Institution. That work will involve virtual Dialogues, public forums, the “Convening the Conveners” project (seeking viable Carbon Border Measure opportunities) and overall PCI capacity building.
Description
On January 23, 2024, we partnered with the Brookings Institution to host an all-day, hybrid (both in-person and virtual). It was a confidential, Chatham House Rule (CHR) event with ample opportunities for participants to strengthen old relationships and forge new ones. The dialogue featured remarks by Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-WA01), who is the House lead on the bicameral Clean Competition Act, Chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and a fresh voice on carbon pricing. The first panel focused on the state of play in the European Union and other countries on CBMs and their relationship to pending CBM legislation in this Congress, while the second panel covered election-year dynamics on climate and energy issues informed by extensive polling. The afternoon featured breakout sessions, and after concluding remarks, we hosted a happy hour for in-person participants.
On February 15, we convened key organizations for a 2.5-hour hybrid event focused on CBMs, co-hosted with E3G. It was effective in bridging rather siloed workstreams we had become aware of as a result of two landscape analyses conducted over the past year. The second such analysis informed this event, and highlights were shared with the participants. We also shared a compendium of research and perspectives on CBMs produced by the groups in attendance. These groups were selected because they either convene other subsets of stakeholders or have a distinct voice informing the policy debate on this subject. Participants reaffirmed that PCI is playing a useful and important role in this space, and said that they looked forward to our continued engagement.
On June 4, we co-hosted a virtual public forum with C2ES examining a possible window of opportunity for a US carbon price in 2025, based on the confluence of the growing national debt, growing global interest in CBMs, and the desire to extend some of the Trump tax cuts. Notably, speakers with closer ties to Republican circles were the most optimistic about the viability of this approach. Over 200 people tuned in for the forum, where divergent perspectives were respectfully shared and thoughtfully responded to in an excellent example of the dialogue we seek to foster. Some of the themes explored appeared in a Time Magazine piece written by one of our moderators a couple of weeks after the event.
On September 10, we co-hosted a second virtual public forum with C2ES in collaboration with Professor Christopher Borick of Muhlenberg College. This event, which drew 160 attendees and received media coverage from Inside EPA's Climate Extra, revealed groundbreaking polling data on American attitudes toward the intersection of climate and trade. The polling highlighted strong bipartisan support for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, prioritizing international trade compliance, and imposing carbon-based fees on imports—even if it leads to higher prices. As outlined in a recent blog by Danny Richter - the first publication to share the data - these results reflect strong bipartisan openness to climate-focused trade measures, offering critical insight for future policy development.
On December 12, we hosted a virtual CHR private dialogue for 78 participants to make sense of the election results, and what that meant moving forward. We had current bipartisan Hill staff from offices submitting carbon pricing legislation, a former Republican member of Congress, and the head of a prominent environmental organization provide their thoughts, and answer questions from within our network.
In addition to these events PCI engaged in public education throughout the year on PCI’s site (particularly Danny Richter’s blogs), and his various lectures in college classrooms.
Purpose
1) PCI focuses on policies that correct the economic distortions resulting from the free dumping of carbon pollution into Earth's atmosphere and oceans.
2) While focusing on U.S. domestic legislation, we address design elements that transparently link with a global carbon pricing system and foster global economic sustainability.
3) A robust economic consensus suggests the need to price in the externalities associated with fossil fuel burning. Otherwise, the costs of climate change threaten to undermine and destroy global economic stability.
4) Policies to price carbon pollution will take advantage of existing energy markets to correct price signals in the use of fossil fuels that ignore the social costs of carbon. Negative externalities not included in prevailing models, such as the acidification of oceans, must be included in the mix. Pricing carbon emissions can correct the distortion in energy markets whereby fossil fuels are favored over low-carbon alternatives.
Scope
The scope of this project is national, but given the ongoing unfavorable political dynamics in Washington DC, we are also remaining attentive to international, state-based, and various legal initiatives that could be important forerunners of much-needed national pricing carbon solutions.
Information Dissemination
Information on the results of the Chatham House Rule dialogues is distributed to participants by way of email and conference calls. Information that can be make public is disseminated by way if PCI's website: www.pricingcarbon.org.
Amount Approved
$40,000.00
on 1/18/2024
(Check sent: 1/30/2024)
