Join the Coalition of New Mexico Businesses for Climate Leadership
CLIMATE LEADERSHIP PLEDGE
As business owners in New Mexico, a state which faces significant global warming-related disruption including wildfire, drought, heat waves, environmental and economic dislocation, we hereby enlist in this Climate Leadership Pledge calling on the United States of America and on our business coalition to take exemplary action to address human induced climate change, which persists as a pivotal challenge to our civilization.
We call on our Nation to enact a graduated, revenue-neutral carbon fee and dividend. Given that carbon dioxide (CO2) is the foremost greenhouse gas emission threatening climate stability, we support putting a fee on the CO2 content of fossil fuels starting at $15/ton and increasing $10 each year until CO2 emissions are sufficiently reduced. The fee would be assessed at the source of the fuel and collected at the first point of sale. In this way our society would start paying a more accurate price for energy, rather than continue irresponsibly externalizing the costs of fossil fuels. With a revenue neutral carbon fee and dividend 100 percent of revenues collected would be reimbursed directly to all American households, shielding them from the financial impact of higher energy prices. Two thirds of Americans would earn back as much or more than they would pay in new costs and those who conserve most gain the most net benefit from the dividend.
Enacting a carbon fee and dividend will not alone solve the human climate predicament but in practical ways it will put us on a vital path of leadership. The United States will not only gain international credibility to forge the global solutions needed, at home we will spur on an economically stimulating transition to clean and affordable energy technologies in the marketplace. Because the carbon fee goes up predictably over time, this will send a clear price signal compelling a more efficient use of fossil fuels and the adoption of cost effective low emission energy alternatives. The sooner we act the more promptly will we convert our economy and capitalize on the competitive advantage of sustainability oriented innovation which is becoming the new gold standard.
As an equally meaningful part of this pledge, we hereby commit to doing business more responsibly by reducing our own consumption of fossil fuels, deploying resource saving alternatives, embracing energy efficiency, growing native carbon sinks and creating a more sustainable economy that values conservation, clean energy and climate stewardship. Through these and other pursuits, our growing business coalition strives to help restore climate equilibrium and advance the civil society.
Joining the Climate Leadership Pledge is a way to unite, lead by example and inspire our brave Nation - built on free enterprise, social justice and revolutionary spirit - to uphold the natural right of liberty and take responsibility for the greater good at once.
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