James E Hansen.jpg

Dr. James Hansen, former head of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (source: Wikipedia)

[Craig Axford]

Dr. James Hansen, former head of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, argues in this blog post that a fee on carbon that is paid back to every citizen is the best way to tackle climate change.  This so-called ‘fee and dividend’ is similar to a basic income guarantee, but the fee would exceed the monthly dividend in the case of the greatest carbon emitters.  However, all of the money collected via the fee would be distributed back to the public each month and would disproportionately favor both low income individuals and families as well as low carbon emitters.

Dr. James Hansen, “Fee & 100% Dividend”, Open Source Systems, Science, Solutions, November 29, 2008: https://ossfoundation.us/projects/environment/economics