Exxon contributes $1 million to carbon tax campaign

Exxon Mobil Corp. is making a $1 million contribution to an advocacy effort calling for a tax on carbon dioxide emissions.

The money is going to Americans for Carbon Dividends, the advocacy arm of the Climate Leadership Council, a group that has proposed a $43 per metric ton tax on carbon dioxide emissions. All revenue would be distributed to taxpayers via tax refunds or direct payments.

{mosads}The proposal is backed by big businesses and former GOP policymakers like James Baker and George Shultz, who each served as secretary of State under a Republican administration.

“This is a significant step in furtherance of the Baker-Shultz carbon dividends proposal,” said Greg Bertelsen, senior vice president of the Climate Leadership Council. “We are still very early in the process. The organization is now just three months old. With Exxon’s contribution, we already have over $3 million committed to this effort.”

The donation from Exxon, the largest U.S. oil company, comes a day after the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published a major report calling on world leaders to slash carbon dioxide emissions dramatically in the next 12 years, or face catastrophic climate impacts.

Exxon had already signed on to support the Climate Leadership Council’s proposal, alongside BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Total, but the $1 million contribution, confirmed by Exxon spokesman Scott Silvestri, represents a major, public climate policy move by the oil giant.

Last month, Exxon joined Chevron Corp., and Occidental Petroleum Corp. to become the first U.S. oil companies to join the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative, an international coalition that aims to advance industry-centric climate policies.