Germany last week doubled its consumer subsidies of electric vehicles that cost up to €40,000. But a more powerful measure is in the works to help Germans transition to fuel-efficient vehicles: a high tax on vehicles that get less than about 28 miles per gallon.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has long been a supporter of a revenue-neutral carbon tax to “price the unpriced externalities of carbon emissions”, as he phrases it.
Now that he has a rare access to the Trump administration after joining Trump’s Strategic and Policy Forum, he is reportedly pushing for a carbon tax with the new President.
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[Editor’s note: We’re trying a new morning green energy briefing which should deliver every day by 9am ET. Please comment below]
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A bill passed in Michigan in 2015 is about to kick in, making being a vehicle owner in the state more expensive than ever. The bill, which is part of a road-funding package proposed by Gov. Rick Snyder, will see cost increases across various facets of vehicle ownership, from annual registration fees to gas prices.
Those projected to be the hardest hit are people who own multiple vehicles and those who own fuel-inefficient vehicles, but while this may seem like good news to green vehicle owners, the bill is also introducing a surcharge on electric and hybrid vehicles for as much as $235…
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The Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, announced that Canada would implement a Federal Carbon Tax if the provinces didn’t do so on their own. The plan states that if any province does not have a carbon tax or cap and trade system in place by 2018, the federal government will implement a plan to tax carbon starting at C$10/ton (US$7) and reaching $50/ton (US$35) by 2022. Speaking at the House of Commons, Trudeau said, “There is no hiding from climate change. It is real and it is everywhere. What we can do is make a real and honest effort — today and every day — to protect the health of our environment, and with it, the health of all Canadians.”
Massachusetts is taking aggressive steps toward cleaning electrical grid and in doing so is joining a select group of regions around the world. Of course Germany and California get all the headlines, but also deserving are Portugal, Scotland, Hawaii, Iceland, Costa Rica, Uruguay throwing down part of $285B worth in 2015. There are also the global giants China and India building massive amounts of infrastructure.
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Is a Federal Carbon Tax coming to the USA? The answer can be surmised in one point: Exxon has been lobbying Congress to institute carbon regulation. This corporate policy became public after a 2009 speech by their CEO, Rex Tillerson. Recently, Judges from Minnesota and Washington have lent credence to the public costs (health and pollution) of burning fossil fuel. While California’s cap and trade program flounders, critics are calling for a simpler, direct carbon tax. And in December of 2015 a bill was introduced in Congress which laid out clear carbon tax pricing through 2035. That bill, S.2399 – Climate Protection and Justice Act of 2015, is stuck in committee. As our consciousness of climate change transforms into new policies, two important questions emerge: What form of carbon tax will most effectively meet our goals of long term species sustainability and why is Exxon advocating a certain version?
A judge in Minnesota suggested that the proper price of the greenhouse gas Carbon Dioxide should be between $11 and $57/ton, ten times larger than current Minnesota estimates. A judge in Washington State recently ruled that the threat of climate change is so urgent that the state must be placed on a court-ordered deadline to hold polluters accountable now. Politicians, Scientists and Economists are all seeming to focus on an Economics style solution to climate change. Are we on the cusp of energetic changes from a legal standpoint?
