ARTICLE 31: “This is a petitioned article; the Carbon Cash Back legislation seeks to create incentives to reduce climate change resulting from carbon pollution by putting a price on carbon and returning revenue to households as a monthly rebate. If approved, the Town will communicate its recommendation to our State and Federal representatives.”
The warrant article expresses support of the citizens of Sandwich for a price on carbon, at the state and federal levels. The carbon price is assessed as a fee on fossil fuels, paid by producers and importers, which causes the prices of fuels to reflect the negative consequences of their use, i.e. climate change. The warrant article specifies that revenue from the carbon fee should be returned to households as a rebate, which helps people cover the increased cost, while still preserving the incentive to use less by conservation and investment in clean energies which avoids the carbon fee.
This ‘Carbon Fee & Dividend’ policy is a leading policy for addressing climate change, and as examples, there are several bills in the U.S. Congress using this basic approach, for example, the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, with 92 co-sponsors in the House, see www.energyinnovationact.org. 37 New Hampshire towns and municipalities have already passed similar warrant articles or resolutions calling for this policy, a grassroots New Hampshire effort that has been organized by the Carbon Cashback Coalition