The state needs $1 billion a year for climate change costs; we found the money
The coal-fired Brandon Shores Power Plant in Anne Arundel County. Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images.
Last month, Marylanders heard with alarm about a freak set of tornados that took weather forecasters by surprise, injuring five people and crashing trees onto buildings from Montgomery to Carroll counties. We hear ominous weather stories with more regularity these days, and most likely many of these events are a byproduct of climate change caused by greenhouse gas pollution.
Our counties, cities and state governments are facing enormous challenges as a result – including paying for the damage from climate change; payment that at the moment comes from all of our own checkbooks. And the price tag is only going up.
The only folks who aren’t paying their fair share of the costs are the fossil fuel companies themselves, who are making record profits in many cases while they make climate change worse. That’s why a coalition of Maryland citizens has been urging our state legislators to move forward with a mature, carefully and thoroughly studied policy that will make sure the most appropriate parties pay the bill.
The Rebuild Maryland Coalition, a diverse group of stakeholders working to establish practical solutions to climate change, will urge lawmakers to pass the Climate Crisis and Environmental Justice Act (CCEJ) when the General Assembly gavels open next January. The measures in this bill will help pay for the enormous costs of climate change while providing much-needed support to our most vulnerable communities.
The bill fell short again this past session. It could have set Maryland to join Washington, Illinois, New York and other states in implementing carbon pricing, a type of program that charges the companies that import fossil fuels into our state by each ton of carbon pollution they cause. Carbon pricing is a broadly supported, rapidly advancing policy that results in revenues to pay for the impacts of climate change that we’re feeling in our livelihoods and our wallets.
The worst polluters oppose carbon pricing, because they fear it will hurt what’s most important to them — their bottom line. However most fossil fuel companies know carbon pricing is coming, and some — including Conoco Phillips and BP, through their membership in the Climate Leadership Council — endorse carbon pricing. Many leading energy and environmental policy organizations agree that carbon pricing is a practical approach to solving climate change.
As the result of General Assembly action in 2022, Maryland now is a leader in greenhouse gas emissions policy, requiring a 60% reduction by 2031 and targeting net-zero emissions by 2045. The impressive state law that set those requirements also laid out a framework of policies to help get us there, but the landmark legislation didn’t provide the funds needed to pay climate change costs. The CCEJ will help fund these efforts by charging the fossil fuel companies a fair fee for the greenhouse gases they emit.
When passed, the Climate Crisis and Environmental Justice Act will generate billions of dollars for investment in clean energy infrastructure and protect Maryland’s most vulnerable communities.
The Moore administration’s policy blueprint for climate change, Maryland’s Climate Pollution Reduction Plan, reads “… initial estimates show that achieving an equitable transition to a clean energy future could require a public sector investment of approximately $1 billion annually.” It goes on to say that those funds will have to come from “new funding sources.”
We’ve found the money. Our endorsed Climate Crisis and Environmental Justice bill is expected to raise an average of $1.25 billion per year.
It goes without saying that the costs are coming whether we do anything or not.
The state’s choice is simple: Charge the people living and working in our great state, or charge the companies responsible for the pollution. We think the answer is obvious.
The post The state needs $1 billion a year for climate change costs; we found the money appeared first on Maryland Matters.
