Duke Energy's Paul Anderson on a Carbon Tax

Leading authorities on climate and energy policy called Thursday for putting a price on greenhouse-gas emissions to drive new efficiencies and technologies, and one top U.S. utility executive called for an outright tax on carbon.

"From a businessman's standpoint, that's what is going to compel action," Duke Energy Chairman Paul Anderson said at a Sierra Club workshop here on what to do about global warming.

[...]

[T]axing carbon emissions will produce immediate, economywide gains in energy efficiency and new, carbon-free energy production, Anderson said.

"All the other approaches will take decades. A carbon tax is immediate," he said. Governments could use the revenues to offset or refund other taxes, as well.

"Assuming it's a tax-neutral policy, it's really no-regrets policy," Anderson said, "because at the end of the day even if you don't agree climate change is a serious problem, all you've done is create some energy efficiency out there and that's not a bad thing."

Thanks to Clean Energy Leader for the Anderson pointer. This isn't the first time we've seen Anderson make this call. Click here for a post from our archives from April 2005. We should point out that he's not the only utility CEO to be talking this way. For more thoughts on CO2 policy, click here.

Technorati tags: Environment, Energy, Politics, Technology, Economics, Duke Energy, Paul Anderson

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