- Elon Musk contacted Biden Administration to enact a carbon tax.
- Musk also approached the Trump administration for a similar law.
- Musk proposed that consumers could pay the fee as a tax.
Elon Musk reports that he called on the Biden administration to enact a carbon tax. It is a way of encouraging a quicker transition to renewable energy. During a new podcast with Joe Rogan that was released Thursday, Musk described the discussion with the Biden administration. The White House did not respond to a request for comment immediately.
Rogan had asked Musk if there was a need for new technology development to increase battery-powered vehicle adoption. In order to transition away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy, Musk argued that the bigger problem is that “a hell of a lot of batteries[are] needed.” In Musk’s opinion, the best way to promote the change is to “put a price on carbon.”
“Honestly, my top recommendation would be to just have a carbon tax,” Musk said. ‘We are not paying for the oceans and the atmosphere’s CO2 power. An unpriced externality is unable to respond to the demand. The market would respond sensibly if we just put a price on it.
Musk’s proposal to Biden Administration
Musk proposed that consumers could pay the fee, and those who earn smaller incomes might be given rebates. Even the playing field for Tesla’s electric vehicles could be further helped by a carbon tax. But Musk said SpaceX, which is currently trying to buy natural gas wells in Texas to power its rockets, will have to pay.
“I spoke to the incoming administration, the Biden administration, and they were like, ‘Well, this seems too difficult politically,'” he said. Musk said he recalls thinking, ‘That’s at least half the reason you’re going to be elected, so why don’t you just fight for it? ”
This is not the first time the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX has been agitating for a carbon tax. Musk reportedly floated the idea during early meetings with the Trump administration but received ‘little or no support.’
Elon had called for a ‘Revolt’
In the past, Musk also called for a “revolt” against the fossil fuel industry when calling for a carbon tax. And accused major oil companies of plotting against Tesla. But on Rogan’s podcast, he said he was not in favor of demonizing the oil and gas industry. Because it would upset the people employed in it, and fully halting its operations. This would mean that everybody would ‘die of hunger.’
Some people have spent their entire lives in the oil and gas industry, and they began that profession when it didn’t seem like a bad thing to do. So then they’re like,’ Hey guy, I’ve just spent my whole career working hard to do useful stuff, and now you’re telling me that I’m the devil.’ That’s going to make them pretty angry,’ he said, echoing remarks from late last year. The best thing that the oil and gas industry will do, frankly, is to say,’ Let’s do a carbon tax. We’re all going to pay a carbon tax, and it’s not going to make us the devil.”
His advocacy for an ambitious renewable energy policy was one of Biden’s primary campaign planks. “By 2035, he vowed to remove carbon emissions from the power sector and achieve a “100 percent renewable energy economy” by 2050. He also expressed support for eliminating subsidies for fossil fuels. And he has restored the US to the Paris climate agreement since taking office.
