Following Senator Chris Van Hollen’s (D-MD) and Representative Jerry Nadler’s (D-NY-12) introduction of the Polluters Pay Climate Fund Act of 2024, Evergreen Action Senior Energy Transition Policy Lead Mattea Mrkusic released the following statement:

“The Polluters Pay Climate Fund Act of 2024 is a bold step toward finally holding Big Oil accountable for their role in fueling the climate crisis. For over 60 years, corporate polluters have knowingly damaged our planet and endangered frontline communities. Big Oil has bent over backward to stall climate action and protect their profits, saddling the American people with a crisis that is costing us billions every year.

“This bill would begin to right those wrongs by forcing the top polluters to pay into the Polluters Pay Climate Fund, proportional to the climate pollution they’re responsible for. The Fund will help address the impacts of the climate crisis and notably, will set aside 40 percent for investments that will benefit environmental justice communities. It’s time to make polluters pay for the crisis they largely created—and the majority of Americans agree.”

Evergreen called for measures to make polluters pay, including a fee on carbon pollution for fossil fuel companies and the reinstatement and increase of Superfund taxes, in the 2021 report Stop Investing in Pollution.

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