VBSR Policy, lake and mountain in background

VBSR Letter of Support for Burlington Mayor’s Climate Action Plan

Monday, December 10, 2018

Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility

255 South Champlain St. Suite #10

Burlington, VT 05602

Mayor Miro Weinberger,

Climate change represents an economic and environmental threat to Vermont and that is why our organization was so pleased to see your announcement this week in support of a state-based carbon pricing mechanism.

VBSR has spent almost 30 years seeking policy and market-based solutions to climate change, which threatens iconic Vermont industries, our natural environment, and the very future of life on our planet. That’s one of the reasons we are lucky to have your leadership at the helm of the state’s largest city.

As a coalition of nearly 700 members devoted to social responsibility, we also share your concerns over the economic cost of inaction to climate change. The cost of inaction is the end of Vermont’s agricultural and winter recreation sectors and the cost of inaction is the loss of tens of thousands of jobs, hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity, and the state’s valuable brand and quality of life.

There are tremendous opportunities in moving Vermont off of fossil fuels. The electrification of our transportation and heating systems will create good-paying jobs right here in the state. By pricing carbon, we are using a free market tool to spur innovation in our economy, forging new markets, creating new businesses, generating new jobs for Vermonters.

VBSR offers our support and assistance in your efforts to make Vermont the first state to price carbon pollution.

Jane Campbell                   Daniel Barlow

Executive Director             Public Policy Manager