Climate Principles Endorsement

Principles To Guide Effective Climate Policy

Action to protect global climate is vital. To help guide our way, we join together to support core principles that will help us move forward. Our national climate policy must reflect:

• A PRICE ON CARBON. To be effective, a price on carbon (whether a fee or tax) needs to be direct, upstream, steadily increasing, and calibrated to reduce emissions to levels called for by climate science consensus, with border adjustments or other mechanisms to reflect differences in carbon prices and policies in other nations.
• A DIVIDEND OR TAX REDUCTION TO CONSUMERS. The vast majority of revenues are to be returned to consumers, either directly ("dividend") or via tax reductions ("tax shift"), with a small portion allocated to a single fund for climate purposes such as transition assistance for affected communities; international adaptation, mitigation, research, and development; low-carbon energy research; and targeted cost-effective energy efficiency investments.

A current example of legislation that embodies this principle is America's Energy Security Trust Fund Act of 2009 by Rep. John B. Larson

We come from different organizations - business, environmental, economic, social justice, and others. We may take different approaches and favor different policy options. But we support these principles, and seek to work together to put them into practice.

SIGNED,