BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 26, 2021
The litmus test for an effective climate policy is that it must keep enough fossil fuels in the ground to prevent global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius (2.7 to 3.6 degrees F) above pre-industrial levels, the target set by the Paris agreement. The Biden administration’s climate plan, centered on clean energy standards and infrastructure investment, will be a step in this direction. But it may not hit the target. We must clamp a hard ceiling on the total fossil carbon we let into the nation’s economy and ratchet it down year by year. Carbon dividends are gaining support on both sides of the political aisle. ~ James K. Boyce, senior fellow, Political Economy Research Institute, UMass at Amherst