Carbon Xprint at New York’s Public Meeting on the Proposed Clean Power Plan Rollback

NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio and NY State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman held a public meeting on the EPA’s proposed rollback of the Clean Power Plan. The meeting was held at the New School on January 9, 2018. Gary Keir of Carbon Xprint testified. Below is Gary’s testomony.

When one door closes, another one opens. There is more than one way to accomplish what we want to accomplish. This is an opportunity. We can work around the Clean Power Plan. Please consider the following points.

• The cost of solar and wind is on parity with fossil fuels and continues to drop.
• Energy storage prices continue to decline.
• Energy efficient building standards such as Passive House, already pay for themselves.
• The more we invest, the “Experience Curve” demonstrates that these technologies will get even cheaper.
• The IEA states we need $44 trillion of green investment in renewable energy, storage, efficiency, and infrastructure to avoid the catastrophic effects of climate change. The return on that investment is estimated at $115 trillion.
• The demand for “Green Investments” currently outstrips the supply.
• In the end, with or without regulation, it all comes down to money.
• New York is the financial center of the world.
• We can use investments as a tool to solve this problem.
• Institutions, companies, and individual investors want to do something about climate change, but they simply lack an opportunity.
  • They want to do the right thing, but they also want to measure how they are doing. There is a need to demonstrate quantifiable responsibility to shareholders, customers, and constituents. Think of the lack of opportunity we all have for real constructive change.
  • When people have skin in the game, they pay more attention to the goal.
  • What gets measured gets managed, what gets managed gets done.
• A generally accepted price of carbon is $40/ton.
• Governments can give institutions, companies and individual investors an opportunity to act on climate change by insuring or creating more “Green Bonds”.
  • By pricing a bond unit at $40, each $40 unit can be used by institutions, companies and individual investors to measurably balance one ton of the carbon footprint of their stock portfolio or their energy usage. This method is call Carbon Xprint. As a Reference, $100,000 invested in a S&P 500 Index Fund has a 15 ton carbon footprint.

 

This free market method is measurable and profitable. It can be a viable addition or an alternative to regulation, carbon trading, or a carbon tax. This positive feedback approach can actively engage a greater number of supporters to climate action and disarm some of the critics.