Americas, Planet, Climate Change

US economists call for carbon tax

Responsible Business | Jan 31, 2019

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Twenty-seven Nobel Laureates and four former chairs of the US Federal Reserve have put their names to an open letter to American policymakers, calling for a tax on carbon emissions.

The statement from the Climate Leadership Council, whose signatories included former Fed chairs Alan Greenspan, Janet Yellen, Paul Volcker and Ben Bernanke, alongside Nobel-winning economists Amartya Sen, Daniel Kahneman and Richard Thaler, said that: “A carbon tax offers the most cost-effective lever to reduce carbon emissions at the scale and speed that is necessary. By correcting a well-known market failure, a carbon tax will send a powerful price signal that harnesses the invisible hand of the marketplace to steer economic actors towards a low-carbon future.”

The proceeds of such a carbon tax, which would force emitters to pay a fee per tonne of net carbon dioxide emissions, could be used to fund cash rebates to US citizens, the Climate Leadership Council said.

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