Katherine Conrotto: Putting a price on carbon creates win-win solution

In the March 15 Washington Post, former Secretary of State George Schultz, in an opinion piece titled “A Reagan approach to climate changes,” made note of the fact that the Arctic sea ice shrank at a rate of 48,000 square kilometers a year from 1953 to 1979, and a staggering 148,000 square kilometers a year from 1996 to 2014. Shultz also cited research that concluded earth temperatures have increased 1 degree Celsius since the industrial revolution of the 19th century began pouring carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

When presented with evidence of the thinning of the ozone layer, President Ronald Reagan publicly prevailed upon leading industrialists to create a solution to the problem. Dupont responded by creating a set of benign replacement chemicals, still in use today, that have helped reestablish ozone concentrations.

Schultz endorses the Citizen’s Climate Lobby initiative, whereby companies would pay a “carbon fee” at the point of extraction. These fees would be collected and distributed monthly to offset consumer prices as carbon fees increase annually. Fees would rise until atmospheric carbon measurements decrease to below 1990 levels.

This is a win-win solution! As Schultz concludes, “Put a price out there and let the market adapt.”

This story was originally published April 1, 2015 at 9:03 AM with the headline "Katherine Conrotto: Putting a price on carbon creates win-win solution."