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CCL wins popular choice in Climate CoLab

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CCL proposal wins popular choice in Climate CoLab contest

OCT. 7, 2014 – The proposal from Citizens’ Climate Lobby — The Little Engine That Could: Carbon Fee and Dividend – was the Popular Choice winner in the U.S. Carbon Price category of this year’s MIT Climate CoLab contest.

CCL’s proposal calls for a steadily-rising fee on the CO2 content of fuels, starting at $15 per ton of CO2 and increasing $10 per ton each year. Revenue from the fee would be returned to households as equal shares. Border tariff adjustments would be applied to imports from nations that do not have an equivalent carbon price. U.S. manufacturers would be given rebates when exporting to nations that do not price carbon.

The proposal was written and submitted by CCL volunteers Peter Joseph, Gary Horvitz and Liz Fisher with help from CCL Strategic Manager Joseph Robertson.

A study released in June from Regional Economic Models, Inc., found that CCL’s proposal would cut CO2 emissions in 20 years while adding 2.8 million jobs to the U.S. economy.

“We’re thrilled that CCL’s proposal has captured the popular choice award in Climate CoLab’s contest,” CCL Executive Director Mark Reynolds. “This award will bring much-needed attention to a solution that is quickly gaining support from all sides of the political spectrum.”

The Judges’ Choice in the U.S. Carbon Price category went to a pro-growth, cross-partisan carbon tax from Adele Morris of the Brookings Institution and a non-political cap-and-trade system that relies on reputation mechanisms, of the kind now used by sites like eBay, Uber and AirBNB. Advisors in the U.S. Carbon Price category included George P. Shultz, former U.S. Secretary of State; Bob Inglis, former U.S. Representative (R-SC) and current Director of the Energy and Enterprise Initiative; and Phil Sharp, former U.S. Representative (D-IN) and current President of Resources for the Future.

This year’s contest featured 18 categories. All the winners have been invited to the Climate CoLab’s 2014 conference, Crowds & Climate: From Ideas to Action, taking place at the MIT campus in Cambridge, MA, on November 6-7. At the conference, the winners will engage with experts and attendees to explore how their ideas can effectively move forward in the world. The winner of the $10,000 Grand Prize will also be announced.

 

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