A Climate Fix That Stephen Hawking and Exxon Both Support

A new group of industry heavyweights, including oil majors Total, ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell and BP, have voiced their support for a Republican-led carbon tax and dividend plan. Individual founding members include, Michael Bloomberg, Stephen Hawking and Steven Chu.

The Climate Leadership Council, formed earlier this year to promote a carbon tax as the most effective climate solution, announced its new coalition of “Founding Members” today.

Supporters include companies like Johnson & Johnson and General Motors and NGOs like the Nature Conservancy.

The plan is made up of four parts. As Bloomberg writes:

• A carbon tax on fossil-fuel combustion lets energy prices reflect the damage done to the climate from carbon dioxide emissions.
• Money raised by the levy is refunded monthly to taxpayers—turning distant climate benefits into immediate cash.
• A border tax on goods from countries without a carbon tax ensures that U.S. companies remain competitive.
• Finally, the U.S. safely rolls back climate regulations.

The council presented its plan, coauthored by several GOP senior statesmen, to Trump’s economic adviser Gary Cohn in February.

Groups Slam #Exxon for Deceptive Support of #CarbonTax https://t.co/lWIHoXdVMe @greenpeaceusa @350 @foodandwater @Agent350 @billmckibben

— EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) June 20, 2017

For a deeper dive:

New York Times $, WSJ$, Bloomberg, Axios. Commentary: Washington Post, George Shultz and Lawrence Summers op-ed $, FT, Ted Halstead op-ed $

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