Politics

Biden’s USDA Chief Is Exploring Making a Carbon Bank for Farmers

  • Vilsack says climate change is ‘the priority’ in coming year
  • He warns that China remains a fickle trading partner
A farmer operates a combine harvester at dusk during a winter wheat harvest.Photographer: Nick Oxford/Bloomberg
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The Biden administration has begun an intense examination of how to structure a carbon market that would encourage broad participation by U.S. farmers, including whether to guarantee a minimum price for credits given for reducing emissions, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Friday.

“We will be exploring in depth how we could structure appropriately a carbon bank that would be designed for and benefit farmers,” Vilsack said in an interview with Bloomberg News. “Would it require a price guarantee on carbon? Would it require a program that invests and provides resources for the capital costs associated with capture of carbon?”