National High School Coalition Launches
700+ Student Leaders from all 50 States Join Forces to Support Carbon Dividends Climate Solution
High school student leaders across the country are joining forces to launch High Schoolers for Carbon Dividends (HS4CD). Co-founded by more than 700 student leaders from all 50 states, the coalition includes national winners of debate, science, and economics champions, Scripps National Spelling Bee champions, student government presidents, and more.
This bipartisan group, collectively many of the top high school leaders in the country, is supporting the climate solution known as carbon dividends and urging Congress to act.
“As an ever-growing coalition of young people—from all backgrounds and political orientations—we are clear-eyed about what climate disruption means for our generation,” HS4CD’s founding statement reads. “That’s why we recognize the power of this consensus solution to bridge partisan divides, strengthen our economy, and protect our shared environment.”
Congressman Scott Peters (D-CA) and fmr. Congressman Ryan Costello (R-PA) headlined the HS4CD launch event last week to spotlight youth interest in this topic and, as Congress prepares to act on climate, underscore the importance of carbon pricing and the carbon dividends approach.
Co-founders of High Schoolers for Carbon Dividends (HS4CD)
In addition, two high school leaders published an op-ed that appeared this week on the front page of RealClearEnergy. As they write: "There is no planet B. That’s why we shouldn’t settle for strategy B. On the greatest challenge of our time, we are leaving our most powerful climate tool on the sidelines. It is time to put carbon pricing into the game."
The carbon dividends approach has earned broad support from environmental and policy experts across the political spectrum. The plan would charge companies a fee for their emissions and return the money collected to Americans in the form of direct checks. This would create an incentive to innovate new technologies and speed the transition to clean energy, all while putting money back in the pockets of workers and families.
“The climate challenge may seem daunting, but the solution needn’t be,” said Alicia Du, student body president of Rowland High School in Utah and an HS4CD co-founder. “By harnessing time-proven market principles, the carbon dividends plan would deliver the results we need.”
“High Schoolers for Carbon Dividends combines the generation most affected by climate change with the policy tool most important for solving it,” said Roey Nornberg, founder and president of HS4CD. “To those willing to lead on this issue, we look forward to working shoulder-to-shoulder in the important mission ahead.”
“While we may not yet be in the halls of Congress, we are getting to work from the halls of our schools,” said Ellis Nou, student body president of Carmel High School in Indiana and a co-founder of HS4CD. “We may be young, but we know the time to move is now.”
Learn more at HS4CD.org