Californians Want Fossil Fuel Companies to Pay for Carbon Removal
By Catherine Fraser and Grace Adcox
As the hottest summer on record comes to a close and harrowing images emerge from wildfires across California, the urgency of addressing climate change has never been greater. But for years, Big Oil has spread disinformation about climate science and stymied climate action. Now, experts agree that to meet the Paris Climate Agreement’s target of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, we must go beyond reducing current carbon dioxide emissions to also remove past emissions.
Both the U.S. and California have taken unprecedented action to rapidly scale up carbon dioxide removal (CDR), which includes a suite of technologies that take out carbon emissions already in the atmosphere. However, despite the Newsom administration’s ambitious goals, the state’s CDR capacity must grow about fourfold to meet these targets.
The CDR industry is making significant strides to deploy at scale, and an increasing number of projects are receiving private and government funding. But the private market alone cannot build or finance the amount of CDR we need.
We need a new approach — and according to our new polling research, Californians think fossil fuel companies ought to pay.
Two-thirds of Californians (66%) agree that fossil fuel companies should be required to pay for CDR projects because their industry created excess carbon pollution in the atmosphere while misleading the public about it for decades.
Californians aren’t alone. A growing chorus of advocates and lawmakers — in California and beyond — want to make polluters pay for the climate crisis. State Sen. Caroline Menjivar has introduced the Polluters Pay Climate Cost Recovery Act, which would establish a Superfund-style program that requires fossil fuel companies to pay for damages caused by their product.
Modeled after Vermont’s new Climate Superfund Act, which similarly enshrines the state’s right to make fossil fuel companies pay for climate costs, this bill would allow funds to be used on a “dizzying” scope of projects and programs — like CDR — that “mitigate, adapt, or respond to the damages and costs caused to the state from climate change.” However, the bill’s future remains uncertain after being tabled this spring.
As millions in public funds are allocated for CDR projects in California, policymakers must look beyond taxpayer pocketbooks to fund CDR. Our research shows Californians specifically want polluters — not taxpayers — to pay. Indeed, a majority of Californians (62%) agree with a statement calling for taxing fossil fuel companies to fund the implementation of CDR.
Additionally, Californians support greater public oversight of fossil fuel companies involved in CDR. Two-thirds of Californians support bringing fossil fuel companies under public control to ensure transparency and democratic input in removing emissions from the atmosphere. Furthermore, 64% of Californians don’t trust the fossil fuel industry to lead on CDR, given that the industry’s actions created the carbon emissions that require the use of CDR in the first place.
Indeed, just because fossil fuel companies pay the bill, that doesn’t mean they should be leading on CDR. Environmental justice advocates continue to raise concerns around fossil fuel-led CDR, arguing that companies like California Resource Corporation will use CDR projects to greenwash their operations while continuing to extract fossil fuels. Data for Progress and 16 climate and environmental justice groups have raised the alarm about fossil fuel companies receiving public funds for CDR from the U.S. Department of Energy.
Scaling up CDR will require substantial financial investment, public buy-in, and strong political will. Policymakers can and should build CDR the way Californians want — by having polluters, rather than taxpayers, foot the bill.
California can lead by example. By making fossil fuel polluters pay for the damage they’ve knowingly caused to people and the planet, the state can build CDR effectively and in the public interest, while confronting climate change.
Catherine Fraser (@cathwfraser) is the Senior Climate and Energy Program Associate at Data for Progress.
Grace Adcox (@GraceAdcox)is the Senior Climate Strategist at Data for Progress.