Bipartisan Measure Adds Critical Momentum for Climate Action

(Washington, D.C. – November 28, 2018) Today Congressmen Ted Deutch (D-FL), Francis Rooney (R-FL), John Delaney (D-MD), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and Charlie Crist (D-FL) introduced the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act.

The following is a statement on the bill from Nat Keohane, Senior Vice President, Climate, Environmental Defense Fund:

"The National Climate Assessment lays bare the economic, health, and security threats we face from a changing climate, and the urgent need for solutions. The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act adds to the growing chorus of support, on and off the Hill, for meaningful action to protect our country and the planet.

"This new legislation establishes strong pollution reduction goals and harnesses the power of the market, letting businesses choose for themselves how to cut pollution. The bill is also designed to drive investment and innovation in new, better, and faster ways to cut emissions. By acting quickly and boldly to limit carbon and other climate pollutants, we can reduce human vulnerability to increasingly dangerous climate impacts and safeguard the economy against escalating costs. The authors of this bill are helping galvanize the conversation about what's at stake. EDF believes this proposal represents a possible step towards the zero-carbon future we must achieve.

"This bill recognizes that any effective climate legislation must include clear and transparent mechanisms to measure environmental performance and ensure emission reduction goals are met. Requiring companies to pay for the damage they are causing can create a significant incentive to reduce emissions, but does not guarantee the amount of pollution that will be reduced. This bill, like the Market Choice Act introduced earlier this year, recognizes the critical need for ‘environmental integrity mechanisms' (EIMs) — provisions that tie a carbon fee to environmental performance and help keep us on track to meet vital pollution reduction goals.

"Representatives Deutch, Rooney, Delaney, Fitzpatrick, and Crist deserve great credit for adding new momentum to the search for climate solutions and we look forward to working with them, as well as new voices joining the debate in the next Congress, to find a durable, effective, and ambitious path forward."