In Opposition to Carbon Markets, Pricing Schemes
WHEREAS, we are reaffirming Environmental and Climate Justice Resolutions 2007, 2015, 2016 and 2018; and
WHEREAS, the United States economy was built by the exploitation, domination, and murder of the original inhabitants of the land and people of African American descent brought to the U.S. through enslavement, as well as the indiscriminate extraction and processing of natural resources; and
WHEREAS, the NAACP's 'Coal Blooded Report' revealed that pollution fossil fuel production facilities are disproportionately located in low income and/or communities of color, infringing upon fundamental human and civil rights to breathe clean air and drink clean, safe water; and
WHEREAS, carbon pricing and emissions trading schemes (such as cap and trade, carbon taxes, fee and dividend, etc.) are false solutions that fail to tackle the root causes of the climate crisis and further poses to proliferate fossil fuel usage; and
WHEREAS, carbon pricing schemes rely heavily on fossil fuel and government reporting structures and are vague about the points of taxation, while not being designed to produce localized emissions reduction and a tax on the fossil fuel industry will not curtail the pollution exposures confronting people of African American descent and other frontline communities, as long as fossil fuel subsidies and tax loopholes exist and profits are put before people; and
WHEREAS, within the U.S., there is evidence that carbon pricing and trading can deepen inequalities and are insufficient to meet the scale and speed of needed transition to clean, renewable energy; and
WHEREAS, providing token revenues to people of African American descent and other frontline communities will never compensate for the moral human infractions and destruction resulting from the harmful use of fossil fuel; and
WHEREAS, effective climate policies must be shaped by impacted people of African American descent and other frontline communities that are disproportionately impacted have long fought the extractive and exploitative practices of the fossil fuel industry.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that NAACP vehemently stands in opposition to the adoption of any and all carbon pricing and taxing schemes and calls upon all levels of government in the United States and the governments of all other National Governments to reject this false solution; and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the NAACP calls upon the Biden Administration to:
- Reject policies built around false solutions, including carbon pricing and trading schemes, as well as other fossil fuel and geotechnological loopholes.
- Set aggressive targets to completely transition the entire economy away from fossil fuels, inalignment with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) designated pathway to decrease greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, keeping global warming below the preferred limits of the Paris Agreement; and
- End all new fossil fuel exploration and extraction immediately.