Shell Oil Quietly Urges Lawmakers to Support Carbon Tax

The company sees carbon pricing as an essential policy tool to tackle climate change.

Lobbyists for Shell Oil Co. told members of Congress this year that Shell supports a nationwide carbon tax and encouraged lawmakers to price greenhouse gas emissions, E&E News has learned.

The company’s in-house lobbyists met with lawmakers in the Senate and the House, including Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.), who introduced a carbon tax bill last month.

In a lobbying disclosure form dated last month, Shell said its representatives had taken part in "discussions in support of a robust, transparent federal carbon price” in the second quarter of the year.

“We see carbon pricing as an essential policy tool to tackle climate change and pave the way for a smooth energy transition,” a Shell spokesman said in a statement.

“Shell has long supported a strong and stable government-led carbon pricing framework,” the spokesman said.  “It’s our view Government-led carbon pricing mechanisms are the lowest cost way to develop low carbon technologies for a low carbon economy.”

A small but growing number of conservative advocacy groups and energy companies have talked openly about their support for a U.S. carbon tax, in particular in exchange for rolling back environmental regulations.  The chance of passing carbon tax legislation is remote in the Republican-led Congress, but Shell is quietly laying the groundwork for similar bills in the future.

Shell is not the only oil and gas major actively lobbying members of Congress for a carbon tax, industry sources said.  Experts say the industry is not homogeneous in its approach to a carbon tax, with some majors taking more ambitious positions.

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