US oil lobbying group mulls throwing weight behind carbon pricing | Enterprise and Economic system Information

The American Petroleum Institute is considering approving a price on carbon emissions – a move that would mark a big change after the API long opposed the government’s mandatory climate policy, a source told Reuters.

The US oil industry’s main lobby group, the American Petroleum Institute (API), is considering shifting its weight to carbon pricing – a move that will make a significant change after years of API’s opposition to the government’s mandatory climate policy would mean source said familiar with decision making.

The API, which owns most of the world’s largest oil companies, is looking into advocating carbon pricing “alongside other policy solutions to cut emissions and achieve the ambitions of the Paris Agreement,” the source confirmed in a policy change report by The Wall Street Journal.

The API was forced to face its opposition to regulatory action against climate change. Some of its European members left the lobby group because of disagreements over their climate policies and support for the relaxation of drilling regulations, and US President Joe Biden’s administration has a political agenda that would turn the US off fossil fuels.

A draft policy change statement reviewed by the Wall Street Journal states that the group is not in favor of any particular carbon pricing tool, such as a carbon emissions tax or an emissions trading scheme. However, the source said the group’s State of American Energy report, released in January, supported a market-oriented carbon pricing policy.

The API made no comment on whether or when the group would officially endorse a price on carbon, but said it had been working on an industry-wide response to climate change for almost a year.

“Our efforts are focused on supporting a new US contribution to the global Paris Agreement,” said API spokeswoman Megan Bloomgren.

Within API, the rift has widened between Europe’s leading energy companies, which accelerated plans to cut emissions and build large renewable energy companies last year, and their US rivals ExxonMobil Corp and Chevron Corp, which are largely responding to growing investor pressure have resisted diversify enlarged.

Other large industry groups, such as the Business Roundtable of which Chevron is a member, advocated market-based carbon pricing last year.