The industry group representing oil and gas companies including Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp said on Thursday it supports a carbon price as one measure to mitigate climate change risk.
Oil and gas trade group the American Petroleum Institute (API) said in a call with reporters that it endorsed a carbon-price policy to drive economy-wide solutions.
“We are not advocating a specific price,” API President Mike Sommers said on the call announcing the group’s new plan to address the risks of climate change. “What we are saying is this is a framework through which API will advocate for specific principals.”
The API plans to advocate for sensible legislation that prices carbon across all economic sectors while avoiding regulatory duplication, Sommers said.
API has started to shift some of its rhetoric on climate and carbon issue as the climate-focused Biden administration came to power.
Still, Sommers did not commit to the industry reaching net-zero oil emissions in the next 15 years.
“There is no way that it is feasible without technologies that are not in the marketplace today,” he said.
President Joe Biden’s administration is due to unveil a new economy-wide emissions reduction target for 2030 to comply with the Paris climate agreement by April 22, when Biden convenes world leaders on climate change.
Some Republicans spoke out against the API’s inclusion of a carbon price.
“We need serious American solutions that are based on American innovation, resources and ingenuity that reduce costs and create jobs, not a cop-out approach to appease the radical left,” said U.S. Representative Garret Graves of Louisiana, the senior Republican on the House Select Climate Committee. A carbon tax would increase the cost of goods from food to fuel for all Americans, Graves said.