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Higher Education Carbon Pricing Endorsement Initiative

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Climate Change is Happening...

...imperiling the hopes and dreams of students today. Our Climate, in partnership with the National Geographic documentary series, Years of Living Dangerously, calls on leaders in higher education to demonstrate support for a policy that has the power to reduce pollution and avert catastrophic global warming: a price on carbon. Putting a price on carbon creates a powerful incentive for individuals, communities, investors, and businesses to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and transition to a clean energy economy.

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Why Universities?

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Universities are impacted

by climate change

Floods
Wildfires
Sea-level rise
Heatwaves
Rising prices of commodities
Economic instability

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Universities are Key Players in Communities

They employ a lot of people
They spend a lot of money
They are hubs for economic and cultural activity

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Universities Serve Young People

Universities prepare students for thriving futures
Universities prepare students to become active citizens
Young people will be highly impacted by climate change

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Universities are Scientists, Economists, and Policy Experts

Authority to speak about the problem and its solutions

Not only responsibility of front line communities to be climate activists

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University Presidents are Influential

They are community leaders
They are influential with members of Congress
They lead their campus community
They lead the academic communities

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If five or six college presidents came to me and said, ‘Senator Alexander, may we have a 30 minute appointment with you while you’re home next month?’, I’ll do it in a minute. So will every other Senator. You (college presidents) have the credibility to go to a member of Congress and say, ‘Will you please vote for this? Will you cosponsor the legislation? Will you support it? Will you encourage the president [of the United States] to sign it?’ Odds are, if you do that they will. It’s about that simple.

Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) http://www.edcentral.org/the-higher-education-industry/nder

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Carbon Pricing Basics

Place a fee on fossil fuels at the source (mine, well or port).

Return all of the revenue to households equally.

A border adjustment on goods imported from or exported to countries without an equivalent price on carbon.

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Our solution is called Carbon Fee and Dividend.

We believe Carbon Fee and Dividend makes fossil fuels accountable for their costs in the clearest, fairest and most transparent way. It’s what economists and climate scientists alike have argued is the best first step we can take.

It’s has three parts; we call it the three-legged stool.

A fee’s placed on fossil fuels at the source (well, mine, port of entry). This fee starts low and increases steadily each year.

All of the money collected is held in a trust fund and returned to American households monthly, on an equal basis. Under this plan about 2/3 of all households would break even or receive more in their dividend checks than they would pay in higher prices due to the fee, thereby protecting the poor and middle class from higher prices.

The final leg of the stool is a border tariff adjustment on goods imported from or exported to countries without an equivalent price on carbon. This adjustment would both discourage businesses from relocating to where they can emit more CO₂and encourage other nations to adopt an equivalent price on carbon.

This approach rewards producers, consumers, and other nations if they emit fewer greenhouse gasses, which, if we remember from earlier in the presentation, is the goal.

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Carbon pricing around the world

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In the U.S., carbon pricing legislation is currently under consideration in

New York
Washington
Oregon
Massachusetts
Vermont
Rhode Island
District of Columbia
As well as at the national level

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Energy Innovation Carbon Dividend Act

Democrat

Republican

Ted Deutch

FL - 22

H.R. 7173 is sponsored by:

Francis Rooney

FL - 19

Charlie Crist

FL - 13

Brian Fitzpatrick

PA - 08

John Delaney

MD - 06

Dave Trott

MI -11

Original sponsor

Original cosponsor

Cosponsor

AND

On November 27, 2018 the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act was introduced in the US House of Representatives. A bill number will be assigned soon. The lead sponsors are Democrat Deutch, FL and Republican Rooney, FL. Delaney MD, and Crist, FL are Democratic co-sponsors and Fitzpatrick, PA is a Republican co-sponsor. The first bipartisan climate bill in a decade!

Let’s just take a moment and let that sink in. This is a historic moment. The first time in a decade that a bipartisan climate bill has been introduced and in this case with a Republican as a lead sponsor.

This proposal is the huge step in making climate change an issue that is too big for partisanship.

In 2009, the Waxman-Markey Bill in the house ultimately had 8 republicans voting for it. Having a republican lead on this bill is a gamechanger. There are now two carbon pricing bills coming out of the Climate Solutions Caucus which should be a huge vindication for Deutch, Curbelo, and the whole Climate Solutions Caucus.

Over the last year and a half, we have been hashing out language with Republicans and Democrats. Many of you know that for the last 3 years, we have been evaluating over 30 possible points of compromise in our proposal. It is shocking to me how much of our basic outline is in this bill.

Danny, along with his team, Stephanie, Ben, Andres, and Jay, have been doing extraordinary work regarding the language of the bill and coalitions on and off the hill that we will need to succeed. Danny’s fearless leadership on this has been remarkable throughout this process.

Ultimately, this step happened because of your respectful work with your members cultivating deep and powerful relationships.

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Energy Innovation Carbon Dividend Act

Effective

Good for

people

Good for the

economy

Revenue

Neutral

Reduce America’s emissions by at least 40% within 12 years.

Improve health and save lives by reducing pollution Americans breathe.

Create 2.1 million new jobs over the next 10 years.

Allocate all fees collected to Americans to spend any way they choose.

This policy will:

AND

This is why we like this bill

Effective
Bipartisan
Saves lives
Creates jobs
Revenue-Neutral

What is the same as the proposal you’ve been advocating for all these years.

The rate of increase. This starts at $15 per ton of CO2-e, and increases by at least $10 per ton per year. That’s the main thing that drives the emissions reductions. This is everything we could have wanted here.
The dividend formula. It has 100% rebate of all revenue raised with a full share per adult and a ½ share per child. This guarantees long-term support for the policy, and that low-income and middle-class households end up ahead.
The border adjustment is expected to be WTO-legal, and ensures that there is no incentive for business to relocate to a more polluting regime. With this construction, America will be seen as being a good global partner, and our biggest trading partners, who already have carbon prices in place, will be encouraged to increase the ambition of their own carbon prices.

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Who Supports a Price on Carbon?

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David Oxtoby

President, Pomona College

“As a professor of environmental chemistry and president of Pomona College in Claremont, Calif., my duty and privilege is to prepare students to flourish for years to come and live as change makers. But my obligation as a human is to leave them a world that is better. A price on carbon is a science-based solution that will mitigate climate change’s disastrous effects on this planet.”

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“At Wesleyan, we place a high priority on reducing our own carbon footprint to do our part to address climate change. A national price on carbon can be an effective tool to address climate change on a broad scale.”

Michael Roth

President, Wesleyan University

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“We are inviting college and university presidents to join us in calling for carbon pricing as a responsible and bipartisan response to climate change. By speaking out, our institutions can help create the political will needed for action that addresses our students’ future well-being. Speaking out will also stimulate educationally meaningful debate on our campuses.”

Neil Weisman

Interim President, Dickinson College

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Valerie Smith

President, Swarthmore College

I am proud to join the other presidents in the Leadership Circle in advocating for carbon pricing, and I hope that our statement will encourage others to take a stand alongside us. Together, we can demonstrate to our elected officials the political will necessary to enact effective policy to combat climate change. We have a moral duty to care for the conditions of life on Earth and a civic responsibility to demand action from our government.”

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https://www.econstatement.org/

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Presidents who have endorsed carbon pricing

David Finegold, President, Chatham University
Brian W. Casey, President, Colgate University
Katherine Bergeron, President, Connecticut College
Lee Pelton, President, Emerson College
Marco Valera, Fordham University
Daniel R. Porterfield, Ph. D, President, Franklin and Marshall College
Robert Allen, President, Green Mountain College
Kim Benston, President, Haverford College
Sonya Stephens, Acting President, Mount Holyoke College
Lewis E. Thayne, President, Lebanon Valley College
Jo Ann Rooney, President, Loyola University Chicago
Brian Rosenberg, President, Macalester College
John I. Williams, Jr., President, Muhlenberg College
David Oxtoby, President, Pomona College
Wim Wiewel, President, Portland State University

Founding Signatories

Valerie Smith, President, Swarthmore College
Neil Weissman, Interim President, Dickinson College
Michael S. Roth, President, Wesleyan University
Jon Chenette, Interim President, Vassar College
Melvin Oliver, President, Pitzer College

Leadership Circle

Leon Botstein, President, Bard College
Robert Goldberg, Interim President, Barnard College
Mariko Silver, President, Bennington College
Dianne Harrison, President, California State University Northridge
Gayle E. Hutchinson, President, California State University Chico
Robert S. Nelsen, President, California State University Sacramento
Greg P. Smith, President, Central Community College Nebraska

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Presidents who have endorsed carbon pricing

Paul J. Fitzgerald, President, University of San Francisco
Michael B. Alexander, President, Lasell College
Donald J. Laackman, President, Champlain College
Jonathan Gibralter, President, Wells College
Mary Hinton, President, College of St. Benedict
Barbara Andrews, Provost, Antioch University New England
Patrick A. Mcguire, Interim President, Hobart and William Smith Colleges
David P. Angel, President, Clark University
Clayton Rose, President, Bowdoin College
Stephen V. Sundborg, President, Seattle University
Ronald D. Liebowitz, President, Brandeis University
Linda Schott, President, Southern Oregon University
Carmen Twillie Ambar, President, Oberlin College
52. Lynn M. Morton, Warren Wilson College
53. Gerard J. Rooney, St. John Fisher College

Leadership Circle (continued)

Thomas J. Schwarz, President, Purchase College, SUNY
Kathleen McCartney, President, Smith College
Dr. Melik Peter Khoury, President, Unity College
Nicholas B. Dirks, Chancellor, University of California Berkeley
Andrew J. Leavitt, President, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
Paula A. Johnson, President, Wellesley College

Additional Signers

Michael S. Brophy, President, Benedictine University
Bernie L. Patterson, Chancellor, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
Carolyn Martin, President, Amherst College
Jonathan D. Green, President, Susquehanna University
Sophia Howlett, President, School for International Training�

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Steps in Getting the President’s Endorsement

Research your president’s stance on climate and the school’s sustainability initiatives
Sept. Talk to your sustainability director
Oct. Get the endorsement of the Republican and Democrat clubs
Nov. Get the endorsement of the sustainability committee
Nov. Get the endorsement of the SGA
Dec. Get the endorsement of key faculty members
Dec. Request a meeting with the president �

Download the supporters’ endorsement letter at citizensclimatehighered.org/endorsements

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In Your Meeting with the President

Let your faculty or staff champion know
Send materials ahead of time
Go as a group
Show your knowledge of the issue
Show grassroots support
Bring supporting documents
Have them sign right there
Know the FAQs
Have a backup plan

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Materials for Your Meeting with the President

HR 763 handout
Endorsement Initiative one pager
The letter to sign
An op-ed from Valerie Smith, David Oxtoby, or Neil Leary
One of the news articles

Download from citizensclimatehighered.org/endorsements

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After Your Meeting

Scan the signed letter and email to clara.fang@citizensclimatelobby.org
Send the original to Our Climate

509 10th Avenue East, Seattle, WA 98102

Draft the press release (download template from citizensclimatehighered.org/endorsements)
Email the president, their assistant, and your public relations officer the press release
Publicize the endorsement in social media, the campus newspaper, community paper, tag your members of Congress
Celebrate and keep organizing!

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Frequently Asked Questions

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Is it appropriate for presidents of higher education institutions to advocate for a cause unrelated to education?

Yes! The mission of higher education institutions is education, and climate change is a huge threat to that mission.
The impacts of climate change will be disproportionately borne by young people and successive generations, which is an intergenerational injustice that is directly counter to the mission of higher education.
Climate change is a moral issue that higher education has the responsibility to act on right now. Education should not only prepare us to become productive members of society, but it should also prepare us to be critical thinkers, compassionate human beings, and engaged citizens with the courage to resist if institutions of power do not act in our interests.