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Elon Musk said he pushed the Biden administration to institute a carbon tax as a way to encourage a faster transition to renewables, but was told the idea was essentially “too politically difficult” .
Musk described the conversation with the Biden administration during a new podcast with Joe Rogan that was released Thursday. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Rogan had asked Musk if a new technological breakthrough was needed to increase the adoption of battery-powered vehicles. Musk argued that the biggest problem is that “a hell of a lot of batteries [are] necessary ”to switch from fossil fuels to renewable energies. The best way to encourage this change, Musk says, is to “put a price on carbon”.
“My main recommendation would honestly be to just have a carbon tax,” Musk said. “Because we don’t pay for the CO2 capacity of the oceans and the atmosphere, we have what in economics is called a priceless externality. The market is incapable of responding to a priceless externality. If we just put a price on it, the market will react in a reasonable way.
Musk suggested consumers should pay the tax and discounts could be offered to those with low incomes. A carbon tax could help level the playing field for Tesla’s electric vehicles, although Musk said SpaceX (which is currently trying to acquire natural gas wells in Texas to power its rockets) would have to pay.
“I spoke to the Biden administration, the incoming administration, and they were like, ‘Well, that sounds too difficult politically,’ he said. Musk said he remembered thinking, “That’s at least half the reason you got elected, so why don’t you fight for it?”
This is not the first time that the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX has campaigned for a carbon tax. Musk allegedly pitched the idea during early meetings with the Trump administration, but got “little to no support,” according to a 2017 report by Bloomberg.
Musk has even previously called for a “revolt” against the fossil fuel industry while arguing for a carbon tax, and he accused the big oil companies of conspiring against Tesla. But he said on Rogan’s podcast that he was “not in favor of demonizing the oil and gas industry” because it would upset the people who work there, and shutting down operations entirely would mean everyone ” basically starve ”.
“We’re going to have to burn fossil fuels for a long time. The question is how fast are we moving towards a sustainable energy future? ” he said.
“There are people who have spent their entire careers in oil and gas and they started out in that career when it didn’t seem so bad to do. So they’re like, ‘Hey man, I’ve just spent my whole career working hard to do useful things, and now you’re telling me I’m the devil. “This is going to make them pretty upset,” he said, echoing remarks late last year. “Honestly, the smartest thing the oil and gas industry can do is say, ‘Let’s do a carbon tax. We’re just going to impose a carbon tax, and that won’t make us the devil. ”
One of the main thrusts of Biden’s campaign was his support for a strong clean energy strategy. He pledged to eliminate carbon pollution from the electricity sector by 2035 and achieve “100% clean energy saving” by 2050 at the latest. He even expressed his support for the end. fossil fuel subsidies. And since taking office, he has re-committed the United States to the Paris climate agreement. But he did not commit to a carbon tax, despite the agitation from other business leaders close to the administration and to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who said the climate crisis could not be resolved without carbon pricing.
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