This submittal of November 22 2019 (in response to a Request for Information from the United States House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis) makes the following recommendations with regard to carbon pricing and international climate justice:
· An upstream system: fossil fuel supply needs to be limited at the point of import or production in order to ensure that it will truly be phased out over time
· A fee-based permit system is needed, rather than a ‘classic’ tax
· Carbon fee revenues should be returned to households as a “climate dividend”
· The United States should consider forming a climate justice partnership with a Global South country or bloc of countries in order to distribute carbon fee revenues and eliminate emissions together
· The temporary nature of carbon revenues needs to be taken into account
· The key role played by energy in the economy needs to be taken into account, and economic planning needs to recognise the possibility – indeed, likelihood – of future aggregate economic contraction as a result of hitting biosphere limits
Note: the submittal is adapted from a June 1019 Feasta climate group submission to the Irish Department of Finance on options for carbon tax allocation.
Featured image: Marguerite. Author: Stephanie Berghaeuser. Source: https://www.freeimages.com/photo/marguerite-1372118
