Worldwide, carbon pricing is spreading, prices are rising, and Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanisms (CBAMs) are here.  The U.S. is now the only developed country without a national carbon price.  The EU CBAM started this year, so now exporters from free-polluting countries (including the US) must pay the EU carbon price in trade.  Rising carbon prices of our trading partners and their adoption of CBAMS are red flags that we must make it no longer free to pollute in the US to avoid paying others for our pollution. 

The growing gap between the U.S. carbon price ($0) and the carbon prices of our trading partners also ignores the biggest economic opportunity of this century:  leadership in the next technological revolution in human civilization.  As a result, China, not the U.S., is reaping the economic and job benefits of leading the production and sales of wind and solar power solutions, EVs, batteries, and heat pumps. 

A steadily rising carbon fee on fossil fuel production will put the U.S. back in the race by unleashing private investment and innovation in 21st-century energy solutions, accelerating production and deployment, and driving efficiencies through economies of scale.  It will also harmonize U.S. climate policy with those of our major trading partners - the only way to avoid paying their upcoming CBAMs in trade. 

The IPCC on Carbon Pricing

• “Explicit carbon prices remain a necessary condition of ambitious climate policies” - IPCC SR15

• "Carbon pricing is most effective if revenues are redistributed or used impartially... A carbon levy earmarked for green infrastructures or saliently returned to taxpayers corresponding to widely accepted notions of fairness increases the political acceptability of carbon pricing." - IPCC AR6 WG3 TS PDF page 81.

• “Estimates for a Below-1.5°C pathway range from 135–6050 USD2010 tCO2-eq −1 in 2030, 245–14300 USD2010 tCO2-eq−1 in 2050, 420–19300 USD2010 tCO2-eq −1 in 2070 and 690–30100 USD2010 tCO2-eq −1 in 2100.” - IPCC SR15

World Bank:  State and Trends of Carbon Pricing

Carbon pricing is spreading, prices are rising, and CBAMs are coming.  The World Bank's State and Trends of Carbon Pricing 2025 report provides a global view:  28% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions are now under a carbon price. 

The EU CBAM starts in January 2026, the UK CBAM starts in 2027, and Japan's CBAM starts in 2027.  Canada, Australia, and others are working on CBAMs as well. 

• “Carbon pricing is a critical part of the policy mix needed to both meet the Paris Agreement goals and support low emissions growth.” - World Bank