The powerful US oil lobby, American Petroleum Institute (API), on Thursday officially supported the idea of setting a price on carbon to reduce emissions and slow climate change.
Read also: The cold snap in Texas drives up the price of black gold
Concretely, putting a price on carbon amounts to modifying the relative prices of goods and services according to the quantities of greenhouse gas emissions that have been necessary to produce and consume them.
This decision marks an important turning point for the organization, bringing together industrialists in the hydrocarbon sector in the United States and which has long resisted the idea of any regulatory action intended to protect the environment.
It comes at the start of President Joe Biden's term in office, who has made the fight against climate change one of his campaign priorities.
“As our sector accelerates its efforts in developing new technologies, reducing emissions and publishing transparent and coherent climate reports, we call on lawmakers to support market-based policies that encourage innovation, including including carbon pricing
,
”
the organization said in a statement.
There are two main mechanisms that can be used to
“charge” for
carbon: an emissions quota system or a tax.
Pressure from conservationists
All major companies in the oil and gas industry are facing increasing pressure from conservationists and shareholders concerned about the impact of climate change on their bottom line.
A century-old organization, API has more than 600 companies, including the majors Chevron and ExxonMobil.
In recent months, it has come up against several of its European members, who are more active in the fight against climate change and the transition to renewable energies.
In mid-January, the French group Total thus announced its departure from the federation, believing that the positions of the API were only
"partially aligned"
with its own on the climate.
The CEO of ExxonMobil, Darren Woods, had already stressed in early March that assigning a price to carbon was in his eyes
"fundamental"
to allow the market
"to allocate resources efficiently in order to reduce CO2 emissions at the least cost. possible high for society ”
.
