Climate change is the biggest challenge facing humanity today. We need to think deeply about the consequences — environmental, distributional, and political — of the strategies being proposed for a clean energy transition. A recent Jacobin article discussed a range of strategies and concluded that carbon pricing, a strategy currently being actively promoted by environmental groups and policy makers, should not be part of the answer to the climate crisis.

We disagree. A carbon price coupled with complementary regulation is actually a viable way to combat climate change and hasten the transition to a green economy. And it’s something economists across the political spectrum largely agree on. With the Clean Power Plan likely to be dismantled under the Trump administration, a carbon price is needed now more than ever. A well-designed carbon tax or carbon cap can bring real, lasting benefits to current and future generations and help us reclaim common ownership over our environment.