It’s commonly assumed that taking action to reduce emissions will punish U.S. businesses and harm living standards. What many people don’t realize is that the current absence of a national climate policy is penalizing our businesses and economy right now.
Today, U.S. businesses compete on an unlevel playing field against foreign corporations with lower costs and higher emissions. That means Utah’s manufacturers, farmers, miners, and oil and gas producers don’t get any credit for their cleaner operations. In fact, they are constantly undercut by higher-emissions foreign competitors in our own market.
It’s time to do right by our manufacturers and address this fundamental unfairness. A proposal known as “carbon dividends” would — on day one — hand a competitive advantage to clean-operating U.S. businesses. It would do so by charging foreign manufacturers a fee for their emissions when they sell goods into the U.S. These foreign companies would face a choice: switch to clean energy or lose a share of the U.S. market.
Utah business leaders have joined major U.S. companies, top environmentalists and thousands of economists in support of this solution because it would transform climate action into an instant win for jobs and the economy. America doesn’t need global buy-in or drawn-out negotiations to put this policy into effect. In fact, with the carbon dividends solution, other countries would come under pressure to follow our lead.
It’s time to throw out the old thinking around climate change and start envisioning how America can flex its muscle for the benefit of its businesses, workers and the environment. The carbon dividends plan shows how it can be done.
Tarek Mango, Sandy
from The Salt Lake Tribune https://ift.tt/3emJGVH
November 03, 2020 at 05:30AM
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