PREVENIR EMISSÕES DE CARBONO E AO MESMO TEMPO FOMENTAR A ECONOMIA. Congresso dos EUA debate modelo de taxação de carbono que fomenta o desenvolvimento econômico

Adopting carbon emission policies that accelerate the economy ... instead of climate change

By Hugh Welsh

It’s time for a game changer in carbon emissions, and The American Opportunity Carbon Fee Act now proposed in Congress could be it. For the very first time, a carbon bill addresses America’s global competitiveness and funnels reinvestment back to the economy. The radically different approach puts a fair price on companies that produce damaging carbon dioxide from fossil fuels and puts that revenue back into the economy.

Under the bill sponsored by Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Brian Schatz of Hawaii, carbon would be taxed at $45 per ton and the funds raised would be used to reduce corporate taxes, offset payroll taxes, provide Social Security and veteran’s payouts and allow for state-directed funding to other citizens.

This year Royal DSM recently joined 42 other multinational corporations across 20 industries and took out a full-page ad in the Financial Times to notify world leaders that we can’t wait any longer to act on carbon emissions. Our partners, including Unilever, Volvo, L’Oreal and Toshiba, are all voluntarily taking steps to reduce carbon impacts, and agree the time is now for a carbon price system that is global and meaningful, and supported by policies that complement business efforts.

Unilever, for example, has pledged to cut in half its environmental impact in the making and use of its products by 2020. In that same time frame, it also plans to eliminate deforestation from its supply chain, make sustainable agriculture a mainstream practice and work toward global access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene.

L’Oreal announced last month that it has reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 50 percent since 2005, and reiterated its plan to get to 60 percent by 2020. It is also cutting water consumption and waste per finished product by the same amount.

At Royal DSM, we are consistently transforming our business and product portfolio away from fossil fuels and into bio-based feedstocks. This is done through mergers and acquisitions as well as innovation. We are weaving sustainability as a growth driver throughout the operating levels of the company. Finally, we have tied the bonuses of our 400 executives to metrics such as reducing greenhouse gas emission targets and eco-product developments.

It’s clear that the rest of the world is rapidly coming to the same conclusion as these global 1,000 corporations that are banding together to effectuate the changes that governments around the world are too timid to tackle.

Not surprisingly, leading scientists support carbon pricing, and many top economists have agreed for years that a price on carbon is the most efficient and least costly way to reduce carbon emissions.

More recently, six of the world’s largest oil companies sent a letter to U.N. climate chief Christiana Figueres indicating their willingness for carbon pricing within an international framework. Shell, BP, Total, Statoil, Eni and the BG Group wrote that “carbon pricing policy frameworks will contribute to provide our businesses and their many stakeholders with a clear roadmap for future investment, a level playing field for all energy sources across geographies and a clear role in securing a more sustainable future.”

Even the pope agrees something must be done. This month, Pope Francis issued an historic encyclical focused on the environment, making a scientific and moral case for action on climate change.

There is irony that DSM, a coal mining company for decades named “Dutch State Mines,” is standing up for a carbon emissions fee bill, but we know firsthand why it’s necessary.

Reducing carbon emissions is not only a corporate responsibility to the planet but also a financial obligation to customers, vendors, employees and shareholders. When carbon taxing comes — and, like it or not, it is coming — companies that have embraced sustainability will have a competitive and financial advantage over those companies that procrastinated or refused to accept fossil fuel’s cost to society.

Welsh is president of DSM North America.

Fonte: The Hill