A broad, briskly rising tax on climate pollution would claw back the implicit subsidy that fossil fuels now enjoy, seeing as their pollutants are dumped freely. It would simultaneously provide across-the-board incentives for climate-friendly energy, spurring the lowest-carbon alternatives: energy conservation and efficiency. Targeted subsidies don’t always reach underdog alternatives, known and unknown. A carbon tax would.”

Carbon Tax Center

Pricing carbon efficiently and equitably

A broad, briskly rising tax on climate pollution would claw back the implicit subsidy that fossil fuels now enjoy, seeing as their pollutants are dumped freely. It would simultaneously provide across-the-board incentives for climate-friendly energy, spurring the lowest-carbon alternatives: energy conservation and efficiency. Targeted subsidies don’t always reach underdog alternatives, known and unknown. A carbon tax would.”

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James Handley, letter-to-editor in The New Yorker magazine (Jan. 12, 2026 issue) in response to a Nov. 24 story in the magazine touting geothermal energy.

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