Advertisement

Gillibrand proposes carbon taxes in $10T climate change plan

By Danielle Haynes
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said her Climate Change Moonshot supports the Green New Deal. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said her Climate Change Moonshot supports the Green New Deal. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

July 25 (UPI) -- Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand laid out her climate change plan Thursday, which calls for a carbon tax on polluters and net-zero emissions within the first decade of her administration.

Like her fellow Democratic candidates, the New York senator seeks to make the fight against climate change a key part of her 2020 campaign, backing the Green New Deal with her own plan she dubbed a "Climate Change Moonshot."

Advertisement

"Climate Change is the most serious threat to humanity today, and we need immediate and bold action to address it before it's too late," she said in a Medium post announcing her plan.

Under the $10 trillion plan, Gillibrand wants to achieve net-zero carbon emissions over the next decade, create more good-paying green jobs, and consider clean air and water as fundamental human rights. She plans to do this by phasing out the use of fossil fuels and holding polluters financially accountable.

If elected president, Gillibrand said she would sign an executive order to end all new fossil fuel leases on public lands and the outer continental shelf. She'd also ban hydraulic fracturing on public lands, and support restricting fracking near schools and residential areas.

Advertisement

The Climate Change Moonshot would also implement a $52 per metric ton of carbon tax "to steer companies away from fossil fuels and toward investment in clean and renewable energy," Gillibrand said. This part of the plan includes ending federal subsidies for the industry.

"American taxpayers shouldn't be subsidizing an industry built on greed that's destroying communities' health and the planet," she added.

Gillibrand is one of about two dozen Democrats running to unseat Republican President Donald Trump next year. She and her fellow candidates will appear in two nights of debates in Detroit next week.

Latest Headlines