$1 Billion Investment in Clean Technologies
Could Be Paid for With Only 1 Percent of Oil Company Profits
Sacramento—Environment California kicked off a campaign today
to convince Gov. Schwarzenegger to fulfill his legacy on global warming and
establish a clean energy fund financed by charging big polluters for their
carbon emissions.
“To solve global warming, we need to kick our dependence on
fossil fuels and invest now in greener buildings, renewable energy, cleaner
cars and better transit,” said Environment California Global Warming Advocate
Jason Barbose. “It all starts by requiring
big polluters to pay for their global warming emissions so that we discourage
pollution and generate revenue to invest in clean technologies.”
Environment California
hosted six news conferences statewide to highlight that a $1 billion investment
in clean energy represents less than 1 percent of the profit of the seven
largest oil companies with refineries in California. BP, Chevron, Conoco Phillips, Exxon Mobil,
Royal Dutch Shell, Tesoro and Valero took home $131.8 billion in profit in
2007. This marked a 120 percent increase
compared to 2003, in which the seven corporations combined to post profits of
$59.9 billion.
“Polluting pays too well, and if we are going to get serious
about fighting global warming, it can’t,” said Barbose. “That’s why Environment
California is urging Gov. Schwarzenegger to enact a plan that promotes clean
energy with a $1 billion global warming solutions fund that is paid for by
polluters.”
As required by the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB
32), the Schwarzenegger administration’s Air Resources Board is currently developing
a blueprint of policies to determine how the state will cut emissions more than
25 percent by 2020. This blueprint
(known as the “scoping plan”) will be finalized by the end of 2008.
Unfortunately, the fossil fuel industry is urging the
Schwarzenegger administration to repeat the mistakes of the European Union,
which set up a global warming cap and trade program, but gave pollution permits
away for free, leading to windfall profits and perverse incentives that
rewarded pollution. The governor
supports a cap and trade program, but has yet to commit to requiring polluters
to buy the permits.
“California cannot repeat
the mistakes of Europe by letting polluters
game the system. Polluters must pay for
permits in a cap and trade program. This
will encourage innovation and reward businesses that act now to adopt new
technologies,” said Barbose.
Environment California also
supports using revenue from charges on carbon emissions to reduce costs for
consumers, support development of “green collar” jobs through training and
outreach programs, and reduce air pollution in California’s most polluted communities.
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Environment California
is a statewide nonprofit, nonpartisan environmental advocacy organization
dedicated to clean air, clean water and open space.
