This summer all five members of Piedmont’s City Council took action on climate change by endorsing the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act (H.R. 2307), co-sponsored by East Bay Representative Barbara Lee and 80 fellow House members.
The Act proposes an economy-wide price on carbon to reduce carbon emissions quickly and at scale, in a way that is equitable when combined with a carbon dividend that most benefits low-income Americans.
The US is one of only a few major industrialized nations without a national carbon pricing policy, and Treasury secretary Janet Yellen testified earlier this year that “we cannot solve the climate crisis without effective carbon pricing.”
Mayor King, Vice Mayor Rood, and council members Cavenaugh, Andersen, and McCarthy join thousands of local government, businesses, labor, and faith leaders around the country and around the Bay who support carbon pricing including: an unlikely bipartisan coalition that unites Goldman Sachs with the World Wildlife Fund, 28 Nobel laureate economists, and the Washington Post editorial board.
Susan Miller-Davis, with Citizen’s Climate Lobby (CCL) Alameda, one of nearly 600 chapters across the country working on carbon pricing, believes that, “Piedmonters can feel proud that our local leaders are lending their voices toward addressing the climate crisis with urgency and at scale. I hope local business leaders, civic figures and residents will join the chorus now as climate policy is being hashed out in Congress.”
To learn more about how you can get involved, visit Citizen’s Climate Lobby (citizensclimatelobby.org).
To find out more about how carbon pricing works and prospects for national legislation in the Fall session of Congress, join Piedmont Connect for a panel discussion and Q&A on carbon pricing, hosted by the League of Women Voters of Piedmont, on Wednesday, September 22 at 4 p.m. The event is free – online via Zoom and livestreamed on LWVP YouTube channel – but registration is required on the League’s website, at lwvpiedmont.org/events.
Fires raging in California polluting air on the East Coast. Killer floods in Tennessee, Germany and China. July 2021 is the hottest on record. Climate change is now a climate emergency. The City’s response concerning the largest single use of natural gas in town, the pool, is to continue the use of natural gas. But if homeowners exceed minimal construction thresholds, we are forced to do away with natural gas by installing heat pumps and electric cooking. The City’s Climate Action Plan is being ignored by the City.
Piedmont CONNECT supports a number of climate change policies it hopes to see City Council adopt, unanimously if possible, but sooner than later. These policies are enumerated in the City’s Climate Action Plan which can be found at https://piedmont.ca.gov/cms/One.aspx?portalId=13659823&pageId=14125326#Climate%20Action%20Plan. A recent audit found that the city’s use of natural gas is increasing so Amy has a point – more tangible actions are needed to show that Council is really committed to doing its part to address climate change. Visit https://www.piedmontconnect.org/ to learn more about what the city can do.
A climate action I can agree with, making GHG emissions more expensive is necessary. However, what may not be understood is that such a carbon tax means higher gas taxes to be effective. That does not poll well.
This is wonderful! But what happened to the parking spots that were proposed for electric car charging stations (and we’re going to be paid for by the org that would install them)? Wouldn’t that be a good first step towards making this pledge more tangible?