Legendary Climate Scientist Likes a GOP Proposal on Global Warming

James Hansen, the “father of climate change awareness,” wants the same carbon fee–and-dividend strategy proposed by Republicans

Pres. Donald Trump issued a major executive order last week that, if successful, could undercut the nation’s fight against global warming.  In particular, the order kicks off an attempt to dismantle the Clean Power Plan, which regulates carbon emissions from the power sector.  While Trump’s move represents a big blow to U.S. climate efforts, the renowned scientist James Hansen sees a different—and, he argues, better—way forward on global warming.  “The problem is the Clean Power Plan is really not that effective,” says Hansen, former director of NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and adjunct professor at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, who brought climate change to the U.S. public’s attention in his famed 1988 congressional testimony.  “It’s a tragedy that [the Obama administration] continued to pursue a regulatory approach.”

The solution Hansen believes will work best is one recently advocated by a group of Republican statesmen:  a “carbon fee and dividend.”  Although it is not a tax, the approach would put a price on carbon—a step Hansen thinks is absolutely essential for cutting back greenhouse gas emissions.  Hansen, who has been called the father of climate change awareness, recently spoke about the issue along with Earth Institute director Jeffrey Sachs, a leading expert on economic development, at the New York Society for Ethical Culture.  Scientific American followed up with Hansen, also director of the Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions program at Columbia, to discuss this strategy and how he thinks it will help the U.S. turn the tide on global warming.

[An edited transcript of the interview follows.]

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