It’s been called a ‘multiplier’ in the climate crisis fight and as Bill Nye (the Science Guy) has said if it costs more, more people will buy less. A Fee & Dividend (F&D) policy charges users for consuming fossil fuels while beneficially returning those funds to the moderate consumers. To them it’s actually a net benefit. How might it work?

Citizen’s Climate Lobby (CCL) commissioned a report on “The Economic, Climate, Fiscal, Power, and Demographic Impact of a National Fee-and-Dividend Carbon Tax”.

Results indicated that a Fee & Dividend policy based on $10/ton carbon could reduce US emissions to 69% of 1990 levels by 2025, and to 50% by 2035. Notably, additional significant benefits included lives saved and GDP improvements.

Cumulatively 227,000 American lives could be saved in 20 years under a Fee & Dividend policy, and over the 20 years considered, GDP would cumulatively be $1.375 trillion higher than without!

Several different bills to put a price on carbon and reduce greenhouse gas emissions have been introduced in the 116th Congress. The Friends Committee on National Legislation has prepared a detailed side-by-side comparison of bills under consideration in the House and Senate.