Achieving unity on climate change | Guest Opinion

In his inauguration speech, President Biden called for unity in addressing the Nation’s challenges. Now it would be naive to expect unity on all issues facing the country. Political parties exist for a reason, and reasonable people can differ on how these problems and challenges should be addressed. But some problems require national unity if they are going to be solved. Ending the scourge of Covid-19 is one of them. Dealing with climate change is another.

It is clear that the Biden administration is determined to renew America’s commitment to addressing the climate problem. The good news is that much of the American business community agrees. Within the last couple of weeks the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has endorsed putting a price on carbon that would provide a predictable economic signal to drive, over time, transition to an energy system that results in zero net emissions of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere and thus stabilizes the climate system.

The reasons for business adopting this position are increasingly clear. Climate change poses serious economic and social costs to the country, threatening basic infrastructure and economic activity from agriculture to transportation. These costs are already impacting people, as well as state and local governments, in the coastal regions of the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana and Texas as ecosystems, roads and dwellings are inundated by increasingly frequent flooding due to more intense storms and sea level rise. And they are impacting those of us in Washington, Oregon and the rest of the West in the form of increased frequency and intensity of destructive wildfires.

And there are the national security risks posed by climate change. Climate change is a destabilizing force for nations in conflict over access to scarce resources such as water in the Middle East and Central Asia or contending with immigration from parts of the planet that are becoming more and more inhospitable to human habitation.

These climate refuges will be seeking asylum in countries less affected by climate change, and their numbers will dwarf the destructive political impact of those who fled military conflict in Syria or political and economic chaos in Central America over the last decade.

But the key to dealing with climate change is unity of purpose and approach. This is a problem that will not be solved within one presidential administration or within one generation.

Thus, it is important that we adopt approaches to the climate change challenge that are sustainable over the long haul. Now the preference of many climate activists will be to attack the problem aggressively and force change as rapidly as possible through top-down regulations and technology mandates, such as requiring the use of wind and solar to generate electricity.

But this is not an approach that will be embraced by the business community or by most Republicans. However, a policy that puts an increasing price on carbon and allows the market to choose the most efficient ways to reduce emissions could be. And returning all of the revenue generated directly to consumers on a per capita basis would help stimulate the economy and mitigate the impact of the increasing cost of fossil fuels.

Moving from our current fossil-fuel based energy system to one that limits human-caused climate change will take time, and it will mean changes in how we live.

Achieving this goal will require sustained long-term policies that balance what is possible with what is desirable. And that will require consensus and compromise. And if we have learned anything from our recent history, trying to force change more rapidly than people and our political system can accept will only result in conflict and angry backlash.

This story was originally published February 8, 2021 at 4:02 PM with the headline "Achieving unity on climate change | Guest Opinion."