It’s Wednesday, May 15, and business tycoons are demanding climate action.
It’s not every day that you see the CEOs of some of the world’s biggest companies come together to request actual legislation to reign in emissions. Well, today is that day.
A coalition of corporate giants including ExxonMobil, Shell, DTE, and Dupont along with four major environmental groups, just launched an initiative called the CEO Climate Dialogue. The group aims to encourage Congress to enact a long-term federal climate policy. And they’re backing the Green New Deal! Just kidding. They want a carbon tax.
The group has six “guiding principles” that it wants the government to follow to “ensure success.” The policy that legislators come up with should be market-based, effective, well-designed, equitable, supportive of the competitiveness of the U.S. economy, and, oh right, effective at reducing emissions.
Here’s the good news: Big companies agree that the government needs to do something about climate change. Even if they only want Congress to act so that they can continue to profit, it’s still encouraging that they’re putting pressure on politicians to do something.
Of course, they’ll probably want something in exchange for climate action. That’s how free markets work. A previous carbon tax initiative, supported by some of these same companies, offers reduced environmental regulations and immunity from climate litigation in exchange. Will they try that %*#! again? Stay tuned!
The Smog
Need-to-know basis
Smoke from surrounding wildfires is making Mexico City’s air dangerous. On Tuesday, authorities declared an environmental emergency as a blanket of smoke enveloped the sprawling urban area of 21 million people, according to Reuters. Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum told reporters that she might temporarily close schools later this week.
A conservative Washington, D.C. think tank is going after the EPA’s ability to fight climate change. The Competitive Enterprise Institute is trying to undo the so-called “endangerment finding,” which the EPA started using in 2009 as justification to regulate greenhouse gases based on the fact that they threaten public health or welfare.
Brazil’s far-right President Jair “exterminator of the future” Bolsonaro has canceled a United Nations event focused on climate change planned for this summer. Feeling déjà vu? After his election in October, Bolsonaro backed Brazil out of hosting the U.N. climate conference, COP-25, complaining of high costs.
