By encouraging American solar production, a carbon price would advance human rights

Laura Rockefeller is a senior at Georgetown University in Washington D.C.

The Chinese government’s use of forced labor in the Xinjiang province is a major problem for environmentalism and human rights. This initiative is ethnic and religious persecution thinly disguised as an anti-poverty program. The United States and other democracies have sounded the alarm on the miserable work conditions and political repression that workers in the Chinese region face. However, they have struggled to fully condemn the problem in practice. That’s because the supply chain for numerous global products, like solar panels, can be traced back to Xinjiang. 

 On July 21 2021, Senators Ed Markey and Mitt Romney discussed the solar supply chain problem at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing. Each mentioned that the labor and materials for solar panels originates in Chinese internment camps. But the world cannot turn away from solar energy now, when climate change needs urgent action. Instead, we need to incentivize our own solar technology and other clean tech. The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, a carbon tax bill, would do just that.

This bill would boost international competitiveness on clean tech, jumpstart innovation, and put money back into citizens’ pockets. It will target markets and industries, create thousands of new jobs, and bring about the conditions where clean energy deployment can accelerate rapidly. A strong, economy-wide price on carbon could reduce America’s carbon pollution by 50% by 2030, putting us on track to reach net zero by 2050. A carbon price will save 4.5 million American lives over the next 50 years by restoring clean air in places like Salt Lake. If they are serious about combating the climate crisis, Mitt Romney and Ed Markey should endorse the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act.