Carbon Cash-Back Coalition

10/21/2025

What's the best way to close the growing US carbon price gap? Carbon Cash-Back, of course!

Carbon pricing is spreading, prices are rising, and CBAMS are coming. The U.S. is now the only developed country without a national carbon price. The growing gap between the U.S. carbon price ($0) and the carbon prices of our trading partners ignores the biggest economic opportunity of this

05/19/2025

Here's a one-pager on the importance of closing the growing U.S. carbon price gap with a cash-back carbon polluters fee on fossil fuel production and imports:

10/09/2024

Thank you, Concord Monitor, for publishing my article about how to talk about climate change with candidates and the importance of doing so!

John Gage is the New Hampshire State Coordinator for Citizens’ Climate Lobby, a national, nonpartisan, grassroots climate solutions organization. This year’s presidential election is the last one that matters for the goal of holding global warming to...

08/12/2024

Everyone should watch this lovely, short documentary, "Living In The Time Of Dying."

Peaceful, uplifting, and at times terribly sad, it is an honest exploration of the times we live in, and the future path we humans will travel.

Now available with Spanish, German and French Subtitles...more coming soon. This film is available free of charge or by donation https://www.livinginthetimeo...

03/02/2024

In retrospect, using the 1.5 degree temperature rise as the key metric of whether climate action was working may have been a bad idea, he said.

“It’s language nobody really understands, unfortunately, outside of science,” he said. ”You always have to explain that 1.5 means a climate we can adapt to and manage the consequences, 2 degrees of heating is really dangerous, and 3 means collapse of civilization.”

-Reinhard Steurer
University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna.

Most of the public seems unaware that global temperatures will soon push past the target to which the U.N. hoped to limit warming, but researchers see social and psychological crises brewing.

02/24/2024

Join us for the 9th Annual Northeast Regional CCL Conference March 22-23 in Schenectady, NY, to learn the latest in legislative strategy, build bridges towards passing effective and fair climate bills, review state and regional energy policies, develop smarter communication skills, and more – all to promote and accelerate a viable and lasting clean energy transition.

We're honored and excited to have as our keynote speaker, Sam Daley-Harris, climate advocate, social architect, and author of Reclaiming Democracy. Details at

College Park Hall, Union College, 450 Nott Street, Schenectady, NY 12308 A program of Citizens' Climate Lobby/Citizens Climate Education

02/19/2024

Yes, that's a 2°C+ February global temp. 1st time.

Note that average ANNUAL temp has not yet increased to 2°C, but we are on the way there.

From NASA and EU Copernicus Marine Services:

A 2-degree rise in global temperatures is considered a critical threshold above which dangerous and cascading effects of human-generated climate change will occur.

The researchers found that more than a quarter of the world’s population could experience an additional month of severe heat stress each year compared to the middle of the 20th century (1950-1979). High temperatures and drought could combine dangerously in places like the Amazon, increasing the risk of wildfire. In the American West, extreme fire weather will likely be more intense and last longer.

If warming reaches 2 degrees Celsius, more than 70 percent of Earth's coastlines will see sea-level rise greater than 0.66 feet (0.2 meters), resulting in increased coastal flooding, beach erosion, salinization of water supplies and other impacts on humans and ecological systems.

Increased run-off from glaciers, ice sheets and rivers is also affecting global ocean circulation, which could stall ocean currents such as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC).

Scientists warn that the dual impacts of ocean acidification and warming could have severe impacts for polar biodiversity. Over the past decade, many polar species have experienced “lethal” temperatures which have caused mass-die offs.

01/26/2024

01/17/2024

Please support the most important NH state climate bill of 2024 today by taking a few minutes to submit your support for HB1486 online in preparation for the Committee hearing tomorrow at 2:00 pm. Here are the steps to do that:

a) Browse to gencourt.state.nh.us/house/committees/remotetestimony/default.aspx
b) Step 1: Enter your name, town, and email address
c) Step 2: Select the date on the calendar (Jan 18)
d) Step 3: Select bill info:
Select the Committee: House Executive Departments and Administration
Choose the Bill: 2:00 pm - HB1486
I am: A Member of the Public
I'm Representing: Myself
Indicate Your Position on this Bill: I support this bill
e) Submit (click on the button at the bottom of the page)

That's all there is to it!

A few of us will be testifying to support the bill at the committee hearing tomorrow. You can amplify our impact by helping get a high count of online supporters for it. Please also share this action today with your family, neighbors, and friends. For more information about the bill, see the message I sent the Committee members today (below). You can view the online testimony counts and submitted text at https://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/house/committees/remotetestimony/submitted_testimony.aspx . It's looking great so far: "Support: 46 | Oppose: 2 | Neutral: 0". Thank you to those who have already submitted their support!!!

There is more you can do if you want to:

If you are a resident in a town that a House Executive Departments and Administration Committee member(s) represent, please also make a quick phone call to that Representative about this. (Reps care most about the opinions of those they represent directly, and a personal call means more than a count). To see if you qualify, look for your town in the list of committee members (Click on "Committee Mailing List") at: https://gencourt.state.nh.us/house/committees/links.aspx?x=1&id=3 .

If any of your town Reps are on the committee, please look up their phone number at https://gencourt.state.nh.us/house/members/ (Roster -> Select a Member) and call them to ask them to support HB1486, the "proxy carbon pricing for state procurement bill" in their committee hearing tomorrow. Tell them you are their constituent and you want them to support this to save the state taxpayer money and reduce pollution from state operations. If they want details you can refer them to the email I just sent them (see below). If you don't reach them, leave a brief voicemail with that message.

Finally, if you have a few hours to spare tomorrow, please join us in the Legislative Office Building (Room 306-308) in Concord tomorrow at 2:00 pm. It's a good idea to get there an hour earlier if you can and plan to stay for the afternoon because the committee will be hearing other bills before HB1486, and may be running ahead or behind schedule. You may sign up for the opportunity to speak for 2-3 minutes in support of the bill if you like, but just showing up and signing onto the sheet to show your interest and attending the hearing will help show public support. If you can't make it but want to watch along, the hearing will be streamed live on YouTube (and the recording available after) and you can find that at https://www.youtube.com/ .

In the months ahead, there will be dozens more state bills related to the Environment, Energy, and Climate in similar committee hearings, but none so directly impactful and educational as HB1486. If you want to show support or opposition to more of them, see newhampshirenetwork.org/NH-bills for a curated list that is updated every weekend for the following week. But HB1486 is the biggest one for climate this year because it's an opportunity to share information about carbon pricing with our elected leaders - so please give a 100% push for it today.

Thanks for all you do!

Best Regards,
John Gage
CCL NH state coordinator
Windham, NH
603-303-9767

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: John Gage
Date: Wed, Jan 17, 2024 at 8:51 AM
Subject: Support HB1486 on Thursday 1/18: Proxy carbon pricing will save taxpayer money
To: , , Carroll Brown , Fred Davis , Tom Dolan , , Jason Gerhard , Jeff Goley , , Jaci Grote , Tony Lekas , Latha Mangipudi , Carol McGuire , , , Peter Schmidt , Dianne Schuett , Matthew Simon , ,
Cc: Representative Nicholas Germana , McGhee, Kat , Representative Lucius Parshall , Chuck Grassie

Dear Executive Departments and Administration Committee Members,

Proxy carbon pricing It does not impose an actual price on carbon emissions, it simply applies a carbon price on paper to guide decisions. It is used to anticipate a future federal carbon price to avoid predictable future stranded costs. Not wasting money is a practical way to save it, and this is how HB1486 will save taxpayer dollars. Proxy carbon pricing works by making energy efficiency, electrification of transportation, building heating, and clean energy solutions like solar, wind, nuclear, hydrogen, and storage more attractive by projecting higher future fossil fuel prices in decision-making processes.

Why should NH anticipate higher future fossil fuel prices? Carbon pricing is spreading worldwide, making a federal carbon price increasingly likely (see resource #2 below). Congress missed doing it by one vote in 2022. A Carbon Fee and Dividend bill has gained support each session since its bipartisan bicameral introduction in 2017, with 96 co-sponsors in the last Congress. Business lobbying recently got Congress to address methane (CH4) and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) climate pollution for the competitive advantage of doing so for cleaner U.S. producers. They are engaging in CO2 legislation for the same reason.

Hundreds of U.S. companies, cities, a some other states use proxy carbon pricing to manage climate policy risk and to cost-effectively guide sustainable procurement, investment, and infrastructure project decisions.

The 2024 New Hampshire state bill HB1486, an act relative to proxy carbon pricing in state procurement, is sponsored by Representative Nick Germana of the Environment and Agriculture Committee and co-sponsored by Representatives Kat McGhee and Lucius Parshall of the Science, Technology, and Energy (STE) Committee, and Representative Chuck Grassie of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee.

HB1486 is a practical way to reduce pollution from state facilities and operations and save New Hampshire taxpayers money.

Resources

1) Proxy Carbon Pricing: A Tool for Fiscally Rational and Climate-Compatible Governance: americanprogress.org/article/proxy-carbon-pricing/

2) The US Carbon Price Gap (see the State and Trends of Carbon Pricing graphs in item 4): bit.ly/carbon-price-gap-pdf

3) NH 2024 HB1486 bill text: gencourt.state.nh.us/bill_status/pdf.aspx?id=22220&q=billVersion

4) About federal Carbon Fee and Dividend: bit.ly/cfdresources See especially:

a) Carbon Fee and Dividend Policy
b) US Economists’ Statement on Carbon Dividends
c) Household Impact Study
f) Federal Carbon Pricing is Inevitable. NH Can Prepare. (See “Carbon Pricing Signals”)

Thank you for your help!

Thanks!
John

01/15/2024

The White House Correspondent's Association's next annual dinner is on Saturday April 27, 2024, in DC.

Members of Earth First! Extinction Rebellion, 350US, Third Act, Sunrise, and Climate Defiance will be joining forces to expose media's lack of coverage of, and Biden's lack of action on the climate crisis.

Who wants to go? We can carpool, share hotel rooms, etc.

01/09/2024

Biomass energy greenwashing:
1. Clearcut native forests around the US
2. Grind them into pellets & dry them with natural gas
3. Ship them all around the world
4. Burn them in a power plant
5. Call it green energy
6. Right.