Elon Musk says he encouraged the Biden government to institute a carbon tax as a way to encourage a faster switch to renewable energy, but was told that the idea was essentially “too politically difficult”.
Musk described the conversation with the Biden administration during a new podcast with Joe Rogan that was released on Thursday. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Rogan asked Musk if a new technological breakthrough is needed to increase the adoption of battery-powered vehicles. Musk argued that the biggest problem is that “a lot of batteries [are] necessary ”to move fossil fuels towards renewable energy. The best way to encourage this change, in Musk’s opinion, is to “put a price on carbon”.
“Honestly, my main recommendation would be to have a carbon tax,” said Musk. “As we are not paying for the CO2 capacity of the oceans and the atmosphere, we have what in economics is called a priceless externality. The market is unable to respond to a priceless externality. If we simply put a price on it, the market will react sensibly. “
Musk suggested that consumers should pay the tax, and discounts could be offered to people with lower incomes. A carbon tax could further help the playing field for Tesla’s electric vehicles, although Musk said that SpaceX (which is currently trying to acquire natural gas wells in Texas to power its rockets) would have to pay.
“I talked to the Biden government, the new government, and they said, ‘Well, that looks politically too difficult,'” he said. Musk said he remembers thinking, “That’s at least half the reason you were elected, so why don’t you just fight for it?”
This is not the first time that the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX has stirred up a carbon tax. Musk reportedly launched the idea during the first meetings with the Trump administration, but obtained “little or no support”, according to a 2017 report by Bloomberg.
Musk had previously called for a “revolt” against the fossil fuel industry while advocating a carbon tax, and accused the big oil companies of conspiring against Tesla. But he said in Rogan’s podcast that “he is not in favor of demonizing the oil and gas industry” because that would upset the people who work in it, and also stopping its operations completely would mean that everyone “would basically starve to death”.
“We will need to burn fossil fuels for a long time. The question is at what rate do we move towards a sustainable energy future? ” he said.
“There are people who have spent their entire career in oil and gas and started this career when it didn’t seem like such a bad thing to do. So they’re like, ‘Hey man, I’ve spent my entire career working hard to do useful things, and now you’re telling me that I’m the devil.’ It will make them very upset, ”he said, echoing last year’s comments. “Honestly, the smartest thing the oil and gas industry could do is say, ‘Let’s do a carbon tax. Let’s just do a carbon tax, and that will make us not be the devil. ‘”
One of the main foundations of Biden’s campaign was his support for an aggressive clean energy strategy. He pledged to eliminate carbon pollution from the energy sector by 2035 and achieve “100% clean energy savings” by 2050. He even expressed support for an end to fossil fuel subsidies. And since taking office, he has again committed the United States to the Paris climate deal. But he did not commit to a carbon tax, despite the turmoil of other business leaders close to the government and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who said the climate crisis cannot be resolved without carbon pricing.