Zac Goldsmith Quotes

Putting a tax on carbon could be an effective approach for curbing global warming pollution.

We had some major successes and we did so because the country embraced the spirit of Earth Day and embraced this concept that we have to have forward-looking, visionary environmental policy and energy policy in this country.

China should cut heavy industries' share in gross domestic output by 9 percentage points between 2013 and 2030 to meet its pollution cuts target.

All taxes discourage something. Why not discourage bad things like pollution rather than good things like working or investment?

My goal as governor is for Colorado to have the cleanest air and the cleanest water in the country, and to be a model for the nation in using clean, renewable sources of energy.

The portfolio standard was enacted when I was secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection. It created investment, generated jobs, and gave a boost to local economies, all when helping to protect the environment.

While I have strongly and consistently supported the Clean Power Plan, and continue to do so, I cannot and will not support a proposal for a cap-and-trade system.

I think we can lower our emissions. I think the world will be better off if we did that, and we can do it without cap and trade.

I've always been a strong supporter of environmental protection and initiatives in that area. But I'm willing to set priorities. If we have to make reductions in one place, we'll have to-in order to increase another place, I'm willing to do that.

On the environment and climate change, I suspect that future generations will think there was too much timidity, too much fear of upsetting business. Basically, New Labour was very nervous about regulating business, or requiring it to do anything, even when there was a very clear social or environmental case for doing so.

Recently though, our State Governments have discussed instigating a carbon trading scheme - the details are still to be decided - and that's an encouraging sign.

I'd like to say that right now, in the last few years, the Democrats have been closer - have been more pro-environment. The coal industry is pretty well entrenched in the Republican Party and that's one of the things that we need to phase out.

Good environmental policy is good economic policy.

I think there's a green side to John Kerry, if you like, that he's an environmental activist. His record on the environment is as best as you have on a pro-environment record of anybody in the U.S. Senate.

There is a growing recognition of the importance of really bringing pollution under control.

I reflect back 35 years ago, and look how far we have come in America with our environmental policy to improve the conditions of our air and water, and we have had some real successes.

We decided that the environment was an integral part of our policies and the political thrust of our government. We gave it the priority and we sustained it with the money required to make it happen.

For the U.S., I think we should have a carbon tax, for environmental reasons.

The government should set a goal for a clean environment but not mandate how that goal should be implemented.

It's not a matter of if economies around the world becoming low-carbon, but when and how: through struggle and strife or through advancement and progressive leadership. Larry Elliot described it today as the 'Green New Deal.' It's a leadership we in Britain can provide, and from which our economy can benefit.

If you have a carbon cap and trade system, there'd be an agreed-to limit the amount of carbon we emit. That changes the economic picture for fossil technologies and for the renewable technologies. It makes the renewable technologies more attractive and the fossils less attractive.

Well, I'm not saying that an emissions tax is ever going to be good policy.

House passage is good news for the Northwest corner and our environment.

We don't have to sacrifice a strong economy for a healthy environment.

Most people don't know that the biggest regret that I have - and it's a biggie - is not fighting harder for policy and very practical measures to support the development of the green jobs industry.