Mixed Greens: Even Republicans are talking about a carbon price

As we mentioned last week, the introduction of a carbon price in the US might have been seen as an improbable event before the recent elections, but the looming fiscal crisis and negotiations over taxes offer an opening. Now, it is reported, even Republicans are openly canvassing such a move. Grover Norquist, an influential lobbyist who has bound hundreds of Republicans to a pledge never to raise taxes, told National Journal that a proposed “carbon tax swap”– taxing carbon pollution in exchange for cutting the income tax – would not violate his pledge.

According to Climate Progress, Norquist’s assessment matters a lot, and could help pave the way for at least a handful of Republicans to support the policy. It says that over the past six months, a growing number of conservative voices, including former Republican officials and renowned economists, have ramped up pressure on their party to finally address climate change.

The idea of a “swap” means that a carbon tax would be paired with a cut in the income tax – something Republicans have long sought. The idea, essentially, would be to cut the tax on income and move it over to carbon pollution – keeping the proposal revenue-neutral. “It’s possible you could structure something that wasn’t an increase and didn’t violate the pledge,” Norquist told National Journal.

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Meanwhile, the Union of Concerned Scientists has released a detailed analysis that suggests that one-third of US coal plants are due for retirement because they are outdated, lack modern pollution controls, and can no longer compete in the marketplace with other forms of energy such as gas and wind. The report details the range of up to 641 coal-fired boilers – amounting to capacity of up to 100GW – have been or are due for retirement because they can no longer compete with other forms of energy.

Warren Buffett’s energy investment vehicle American Energy Holdings says it is targeting renewable energy investments rather than conventional utilities, because the returns are better. “We believe renewables is the better investment right now,” CFO Patrick Goodman told Bloomberg in an interview. MidAmerican formed a new unit in January to support its investments in renewable energy, including the $2.4 billion 550-megawatt Topaz Solar Farm and 168MW Alta Wind VII project in California. The proportion of energy MidAmerican generated from wind, hydroelectric, solar, nuclear and geothermal rose to 31 percent as at the end of September, from 19 per cent at the end of 2006, according to Bloomberg.

EDF Energies Nouvelles, the renewable energy unit of France’s largest utility has completed construction of Europe’s largest photovoltaic plant, the 115MW Toul-Rosieres project at a former military air base near Nancy. It comprises about 1.4 million thin-film solar panels supplied by First Solar.

Meanwhile, Germany’s largest utility E.ON, said it was looking at closing fossil fuel plants in response to the largest decline in electricity demand since World War II, a situation exacerbated by the growing incursion of renewables in Germany. E.ON re-iterated its previous announcement that it will not be building any new fossil fuel plants – including gas-fired generation – for at least a decade.