City Council urges Congress to enact Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act

The United Nations climate science body declared in a climate report that we have only until 2030 to make massive and unprecedented changes to global energy infrastructure to limit global warming to moderate levels.

The impacts of climate change are already being felt in communities across the country, and more frequent and intense extreme weather and climate-related events, as well as changes in average climate conditions, are expected to continue to damage infrastructure, ecosystems, and social systems that provide essential benefits to communities.

Presently, the environmental, health, and social costs of carbon emissions are not included in prices paid for fossil fuels, but rather these externalized costs are borne directly and indirectly by all Americans and global citizens.

During this week’s Council meeting, the Council voted to adopt a resolution, urging Congress to enact H.R. 2307, the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, to assess a national carbon fee on fossil fuels based on the amount of CO2 the fuel will emit when burned, and allocate the collected proceeds to all U.S. Households in equal per-capita shares in the form of a monthly dividend.

The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, H.R. 2307, places the financial burden upon those who contribute the most emissions, and wealthier households on average have much higher carbon footprints, inherently relieving the most economically vulnerable households from bearing the burden for decarbonizing the economy.