{"id":19562,"date":"2013-12-05T21:27:40","date_gmt":"2013-12-05T21:27:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ecowatch.com\/?p=314397"},"modified":"2013-12-05T21:27:40","modified_gmt":"2013-12-05T21:27:40","slug":"carbon-polluting-companies-prepare-for-emissions-tax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/carbon-polluting-companies-prepare-for-emissions-tax\/","title":{"rendered":"Carbon Polluting Companies Prepare for Emissions Tax"},"content":{"rendered":null,"protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"Photo<\/p>\n[caption id=\"attachment_314414\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"360\"]\"Photo<\/a> Photo courtesy of Shutterstock<\/a>[\/caption]\n

The writing is on the wall—and the financial books—for some of the nation’s largest companies and carbon polluters.<\/p>\n

Environmental data firm CDP’s latest report<\/a> shows that at least 29 companies anticipate the government forcing them to pay for carbon pollution. That list includes Walmart and Duke Energy.<\/p>\n

“It’s climate change as a line item … It drives internal decision-making,” Tom Carnac, North American president of CDP, told the New York Times<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

“Companies see that the trend is inevitable. What you see here is a hardening of that understanding.”<\/p>\n

Examples in the report include ExxonMobil, which is assuming a cost of $60 per metric ton by 2030. BP already uses $40 per metric ton.<\/p>\n

Companies that aren’t in the utility or oil industries are also planning to pay, including companies like Google, which has been a leader<\/a> in renewable energy investment in recent years. Google estimates using $14 per ton based upon an actual auction price in California’s cap-and-trade, which was upheld in court<\/a> last month.<\/p>\n

Companies can’t be sure when a carbon tax might be legislated, but they’re taking a better-safe-than-sorry approach, even if their financial and political backers deny climate change and oppose laws that fight global warming.<\/p>\n

“Ultimately, we think the government will take action through a myriad of policies that will raise the prices and reduce demand [of fossil fuels],” ExxonMobil spokesman Alan Jeffers said. “We’re going to say and do what’s in the best interest of our shareholders,” he said. “We won’t always be on the same page.”<\/p>\n

Walt Disney Co., General Electric Co (GE). and Delta Air Lines are among the others who told CDP they were budgeting for an emissions tax. GE is an example of a company that already pays for carbon pollution in the European Union.<\/p>\n

“ExxonMobil and many other large companies understand that climate change poses a direct economic threat to their businesses,” said Dan Weiss, director for climate policy at the Center for American Progress.<\/p>\n

“They need to convince their political allies to act before it’s too late.”<\/p>\n

Visit EcoWatch’s <\/strong>CLIMATE CHANGE<\/a><\/strong> page for more related news on this topic.<\/p>\n

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