Dive Brief:
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Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is open to a carbon dioxide emissions tax, according to media reports.
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With Republicans in control of Congress, Trevor Houser, Clinton’s energy adviser, told The Hill it would make more sense to focus on executive actions, such as building on President Obama’s Clean Power Plan.
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However, Houser said if Congress were willing to take action on a carbon tax, Clinton would be willing to listen to such a plan.
Dive Insight:
Despite the fact that the Democratic platform includes language in favor of a CO2 tax, presidential nominee Clinton has so far not embraced a tax. But according to advisors, she should would be open to such a move.
Clinton recently revealed the first piece of her campaign's energy policy, calling for the U.S. deploy 140 GW of cumulative solar power by 2021 and generate 33% of its electricity from renewables by 2027.
But while more Progressive elements in the Democratic Party favor, a carbon tax, Clinton has been reluctant to embrace that approach, given the likelihood that Republicans will still control Congress next year. The House in June voted to condemn a carbon tax.
At a Washington Post event during with the Democratic National Convention, Houser said, “I’m sure that if Congress wants to have a conversation about addressing climate change, Secretary Clinton would be delighted to have that conversation.”
Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, doubts the existence of climate change and does not support governmental action to curtail fossil fuel usage or grow renewable energy sources.
