Co-Chairs’ Communiqué
Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition
Inaugural High Level Assembly – Washington, DC
April 15, 2016
The Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition (CPLC) was created out of the tremendous showing of support shown at the 2014 UN Secretary-General’s Climate Summit in New York, and was officially launched at COP21 in Paris. The CPLC is a voluntary initiative that aspires to catalyze action towards the successful implementation of carbon pricing around the world. The CPLC brings together leaders from government, business and civil society to support the introduction of carbon pricing, share experiences and enhance global, regional, national and sub-national understanding of the emerging practices in the implementation of carbon pricing.
The Inaugural High Level Assembly was attended by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon; Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund; Angel Gurría, Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development; and World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim, as well as Cote d’Ivoire Prime Minister Daniel Duncan and Ministers from over 15 countries, several CEOs from the private sector and heads of civil society organization. At the Assembly, the Coalition:
Recognized that we need to build on the promise of COP21 by increasing public-private collaboration to develop and implement climate policies that will achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement in the near term — and drive greater ambition in the long term.
Stressed the importance of addressing climate change as a moral imperative and a responsibility to future generations, and also as an economic opportunity.
Agreed to advocate the need for an orderly transition away from emissions-intensive economic development and high-carbon energy sources, including—as a priority—through removal of fossil fuel subsidies and the use of carbon pricing.
Supported the idea of setting global goals for coverage of emissions by meaningful carbon pricing systems – as a way to drive collective ambition for the next decade.
Agreed to monitor global progress in designing and using carbon pricing systems, and to regularly report on progress.
Noted new research by the International Emissions Trading Association highlighting the inclusion of carbon pricing in 90 nationally determined contributions, and agreed to support those countries that want to use pricing and Article 6 of the Paris Agreement as a part of their national climate strategy as a priority.
Offered to share lessons learned and emerging best practices with the goal of stimulating governments to introduce successful carbon pricing systems, while encouraging those with existing systems to extend the coverage of these systems where appropriate to avoid carbon leakage.
Promoted the introduction of internal carbon pricing by companies as a key tool to prepare for future climate change impacts and policies.
Welcomed new Partners, including: The Governments of Finland, the United Kingdom, Colombia and Cote d’Ivoire. Private sector companies Iberdrola, Tata Group, UC Rusal, Vestas Wind Systems A/S, YESBank; and, through the U.N. Global Compact’s Business Leadership Criteria on Carbon Pricing, Aimia, Coca-Cola HBC AG, Coway Co. Ltd, Ecofrotas, EDP – Energias de Portugal, Ferrovial, Grupo Financiero Banorte, LATAM Airlines Group and Nordea Bank. Strategic Partners American Sustainable Business Council, the Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development, Climate Strategies, Enterprises pour l’Environnement, Environmental Defense Fund, Institute for Climate Economics, the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, the International Monetary Fund, the World Resources Institute and Yale University.
Agreed to expand the number of governments that are using carbon pricing, deepen existing carbon pricing programs, and promote global cooperation and convergence of carbon pricing. This will be accomplished through the following priority activities:
- Continue to build and share the evidence base for successful carbon pricing, including through the annual State and Trends of Carbon Pricing Report, issued by the World Bank Group; as well as through the development of new methods for assessing the effectiveness of carbon pricing systems; and welcomed the offers of Finland, Norway and Sweden to share their longstanding experience with carbon taxation and decoupling economic growth from emissions.
- Accelerate the mobilization of business support for well-designed carbon pricing policies, including through CDP’s Carbon Pricing Pathways Toolkit and through supporting increased use of internal carbon pricing by companies as a way to advance corporate ‘readiness’ for climate change impacts; and welcomed Canada’s offer to help recruit more Canadian businesses to engage in this agenda.
- Convene leadership dialogues with the goal of putting in place successful carbon pricing systems in a number of jurisdictions; and welcomed the offers of France and Engie to convene a Business-Government Carbon Pricing Dialogue on June 10 in Paris; Yale University to engage the academic community around establishing carbon pricing programs on campus and documenting the business case for carbon pricing; the Province of Ontario to help engage other leading cities, states and provinces as they seek to implement carbon pricing; Mexico to host a dialogue about their existing tax and to work toward a carbon market in 2018; and Chile to work with fellow members of the Pacific Alliance to explore carbon pricing as a regional collaboration.
Co-Chairs: Ségolène Royal, Minister of Environment, Energy and Marine Affairs and Feike Sijbesma, CEO, Royal DSM
