Americans for Carbon Dividends (AFCD)

The group is backed by various business interests, including energy companies. It has also worked to promote its plan with like-minded organizations.

AFCD is the 501(c)(4) advocacy arm of the Climate Leadership Council (CLC), a right-leaning carbon tax group headed by liberal activist Ted Halstead.

Overview

Americans for Carbon Dividends is an organization that promotes a proposed carbon tax and dividend plan that is often sold as a conservative approach to climate change. It works to promote the Baker-Shultz carbon tax and dividend plan, which imposes a carbon tax that is paid to the American people through a dividend in exchange for ending all EPA greenhouse gas regulation and protecting big oil companies from lawsuits. ¹

The plan, endorsed by former Republican Secretaries of State James Baker and George Shultz, would charge a $40 per ton carbon tax on all carbon dioxide emissions. ¹ All of the revenues collected from the tax would be redistributed to taxpayers as a “dividend.” ¹ The plan would also eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases and protect oil companies from lawsuits as a result of damages brought by climate change. ¹

The plan was developed by the Climate Leadership Council, AFCD’s 501(c)(3) fundraising and research arm, and has been endorsed by leading left-wing leaders such as former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Obama administration Energy Secretary Steven Chu, and Obama National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers. ²

Leadership

The organization is based in Washington, D.C. and is co-chaired by former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) and former Senator John Breaux (D-LA), who are registered lobbyists for the group. ^{3 1}

The organization’s managing director is former Rep. Ryan Costello (R-PA), a moderate Republican who retired from Congress in 2018 to found Ryan Costello Strategies, a government affairs firm. While in Congress, Costello belonged to the Climate Solutions Caucus, which is backed by the center-left carbon tax group Citizens Climate Lobby. ⁴ Costello also opposed the U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 Paris Climate Accords, entered into by President Obama and withdrawn from by President Trump in 2017. ⁴ “Climate change should be a top priority of Republicans in Congress, and that is why I am leaning in on this,” Costello said in an interview. ⁵

Funding

Corporate Support

Americans for Carbon Dividends has received support from a number of oil- and natural gas-producing companies. ExxonMobil has contributed $1 million to support the group’s efforts. ⁶ The donation has brought criticism of the company from radical environmentalists.  “[I]f you get beyond the smoke and mirrors of Exxon’s public relations, you’ll see this effort for what it is: yet another coverup [sic] by Exxon to allow it to continue its dirty ways and avoid accountability for its past,” wrote David Turnbull of the radical environmentalist group Oil Change International. ⁷

ConocoPhillips has reportedly contributed $2 million in support of Americans for Carbon Dividends. ⁸

In August 2021, ExxonMobil was suspended from membership in Americans for Carbon Dividends and the Climate Leadership Council. ⁹ The decision came after a lobbyist for ExxonMobil was recorded by undercover Greenpeace activists saying that his employers supported a carbon tax for publicity purposes . ¹⁰ McCoy claimed that a carbon tax serves as a climate-friendly “talking point.” ¹⁰ In response, ExxonMobil released a statement saying that the decision was “disappointing and counterproductive,” and that the company would continue to address climate change on its own. ⁹

Lobbying Expenditures

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Americans for Carbon Dividends spent $300,000 on lobbying Congress in 2018 and $150,000 in 2019 as of May 2019. ^{11 12} The group hired the firm Squire Patton Boggs, which has both Trent Lott and John Breaux on its payroll. ³

Financial Documents

AFCD’s determination letter was filed in November 2018, granting the group IRS-recognized 501(c)(4) tax exempt status. The determination letter is available here.