Legislators Should Put Their Own Skin in the Climate Game
If the legislature has its way, there will soon be press releases, op-eds, newsletters, tweets, Facebook posts, and other public outreach proclaiming Washington’s “leadership” on climate change. In addition to the Governor’s proposed carbon tax, a separate bill, House Bill 2294 would commit Washington state to meeting the CO2 reduction targets of the Paris Climate Accords.
But, what if we don’t meet the goal (we haven’t in the past)? What happens? Right now, nothing. But, I have an idea.
Washington has a lot of experience with not meeting climate goals. For example:
· More than 30 cities in Washington state promised to meet the CO2 reduction targets of the Kyoto Protocol – 8 percent below 1990 emissions levels by 2012. None of them, including Seattle, met the goal. Most didn’t even track their own promises.
· Washington state has carbon reduction goals outlined at Results Washington, created in 2013. There are seven goals intended to help meet our carbon reduction targets by 2020. Currently, we are behind schedule in six of the seven areas and are unlikely to meet the state’s 2020 targets.
Who was held accountable for these failures? Nobody.
So, when I testified yesterday on the legislation to adopt the Paris Climate targets, rather than simply set us up for failure once again, I made only one request: accountability. If legislators want credit for setting bold goals, they must pay a price for failing to meet them.
In response to my request, the chairman of the House Environment committee, Representative Joe Fitzgibbon, lamented the fact that the legislature has tried to pass carbon-reduction legislation, but has not been successful. In the words of Yoda, “Do or do not. There is no try.”
So, here is my recommendation. Inspired by Nobel-winning economist Richard Thaler, the web page StickK.com allows an individual to set a goal and then put money at stake in case they fail. People can even commit to sending the money to a cause they don’t like, to ensure the incentive is particularly strong.
More specifically: every legislator who sends out a press release, tweet, posts on Facebook, or does anything else to highlight their vote to make Washington meet the Paris Climate Accord targets must also put some of their own skin in the game. It must be enough of an incentive to ensure Washington meets the targets. Democrats could put $1,000 up each, promising to contribute it to Breitbart News, for example, if Washington misses the targets. Republicans who vote for the bill could send their $1,000 to “Our Revolution,” Bernie Sanders’ organization.
Some will say this is unfair because legislators can’t control whether we meet the targets. Then why set the goals? Why not set a target to land a man on Pluto in 2019? Or promise to make everyone a millionaire by next Wednesday? Or require the Seahawks to win the 2019 Super Bowl? If you can’t control the outcome or be held accountable for a goal, why set it?
Politics. That’s why. Because passing legislation that is unenforceable and holds nobody accountable for failure is a risk-free way to claim you are a pious climate crusader. It is a horrible way to make policy, though.