'Pricing carbon is the most expedient and obvious solution to climate change, and now is the time for expedient solutions.īy law, Vermont is required by 2028 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent of what emissions were in 1990. 'Cities are too practical to deny climate science, because we see the effects of it on the ground,' Watson said in a statement Saturday. The other Vermont mayors are Anne Watson from Montpelier and Seth Leonard from Winooski.

So far, six mayors from Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York have signed on. While cities like Burlington, which has a 100 percent renewable power portfolio, are leading on environmental issues, “there’s a limit to what can be achieved from municipal action alone,” Weinberger said. economists who have advocated for a global carbon tax as a sign that public sentiment is changing. He pointed to the Nobel Prize committee’s decision to award this year’s economic sciences prize to two U.S. billions of dollars in damaged infrastructure, reduced crop yields and other economic impacts.Ĭarbon pricing greenhouse gas emissions is gaining traction as an effective way to curb fossil fuel emissions, Weinberger said. The recently released fourth congressionally mandated national climate assessment says that climate change could cost the U.S. “Whether it’s the horrific fires on the West Coast, the hurricanes in the Southeast, huge algae blooms impacting drinking water in the Midwest … that have raised the public’s concern and created a moment where I think perhaps change is possible.”Īmid federal inaction and in some cases backpedaling in climate action, devastating climate change predictions and accompanying calls for action have routinely made headlines this fall. “You have these terrible events around the country,” he said. “I have felt in recent weeks that there’s greater urgency around than ever before,” Weinberger said. The mayors are asking state lawmakers to enact carbon fee and rebate programs that will be effective, equitable and “pro-economic growth.” They have not prescribed policy details like what the carbon tax should be or how the revenues would be returned.

Miro pricing