Climate solution must include price on carbon

Thank you for your recent editorials on the costs of climate change in Illinois (Scott Buckley) and the need for bipartisan action on climate change by putting a price on carbon (Mike Zanillo and Eleanor Revelle). We must ramp up our efforts to address climate change even as we struggle with the pandemic.

The true cost of putting so much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere makes putting a realistic price on carbon on carbon an effective and sensible solution. It will incentivize businesses and consumers to quickly demand and adopt renewable energy and other measures that reverse the effect of greenhouse gases. A price on carbon will also spur more rapid development of renewable energy by making it more affordable compared to fossil fuels.

We simply must make sure that a price on carbon is included in upcoming climate legislation along with other actions to address climate change. A price on carbon is a market-based response that can garner bipartisan support and move us toward rapid enough change to protect our future.

The Energy Innovation and Dividend Act (HR 2307) in the House and Sen. Dick Durbin's Clean Future Fund Act (S 685) both couple a rising price on carbon with a dividend or rebate returned to Americans most impacted by the resulting rise in prices. Both bills also provide for a carbon border adjustment which will keep the trade playing field level with other countries and position us to compete with the other nations that are implementing carbon border adjustments.

There is a great four-minute video from Columbia University that explains how a price on carbon works. Let's get behind this market-based solution to climate change that will drive the numerous changes we need to make quickly to save our planet.

Peggy McClanahan

Elgin