Who Supports a Price on Carbon?

Supporters of putting a price on carbon range across the political spectrum.  The World Bank strongly supports putting a price on carbon. And support is growing.  You’ve heard about support from Democrats and Liberals, but did you know about the Conservative and Republican support?

Public Officials include conservative Bob Inglis, former U.S. Representative (R-SC) and founder of RepublicEn; former Energy Secretary in the G.W. Bush administration Henry Paulson; former NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg; former Secretary of State George Schultz; former Undersecretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs Robert J. Shapiro;  former Chair, President’s Council of Economic Advisers Gregory Mankiw, who convened the Pigou Club; and a host of others. And in February 2017, a group of eight distinguished Republicans have proposed a carbon tax and dividend.

Business Leaders supporting a carbon tax include former Exxon-Mobil CEO and current U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.  Major companies are now including price on carbon in long range plans, e.g. ExxonMobil (US$60-80), BP (US$40), Shell (US$40), Walt Disney (US$10-20) and Google (US$14).  Also in utilities, Donald E. Felsinger, CEO of Sempra Energy, sees a carbon tax as inevitable and desirable.  And entreprenuers such as Jay Faison of ClearPath.org.

Economists include Greg Mankiw of Harvard; Arthur Laffer, famous for the Laffer Curve; Douglas Holtz-Eakin, economic advisor to John McCain and President of the American Action Forum, a conservative think tank; and Alan Viard, Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute; William Nordhaus of Yale.

Many organizations beyond the traditional environmental groups are also supporting a price on carbon, such as the League of Women Voters, the Union of Concerned Scientists, and many others.

Last updated Feb 17, 2017