This prize is to be awarded to a U.S. nonprofit with the goal of promoting and lobbying for the enactment of a single law: "A 50 year tax holiday on all profits from either the generation of carbon-neutral energy, the manufacture and sale of equipment that generates carbon-neutral energy, and the licensing of patents pertaining to carbon-neutral energy generation."

That's it.

It basically means that if you're in the clean energy business, you're in a tax free industry for the next 50 years.

How will this solve climate change?

It will cause a land rush of investment dollars into the green energy space. The main barriers to the wide adoption of clean tech are its current high cost and low efficiency. This law will cause a flood of research and development funding into the clean energy industry, which will result in green technology that will actually make sense in the marketplace.

The advantage to this plan is that it calls the bluffs of both ends of the political spectrum, and therefore is the only type of law dealing with climate change that is likely to see passage anytime soon, in that it would be tough for either party to object to.

Democrats argue that climate change poses an existential threat to humanity, and requires immediate and substantial action to prevent irreversible damage to the environment. If that's the case, then surely it's a small price to pay to forego a few decades of tax revenue on what's, as of now, a small and speculative industry?

Republicans and libertarians argue that climate change may not be a significant issue, and carbon taxes would have an incredibly destructive impact on the economy. Then why not take the opportunity to prove your free market theories, by demonstrating how quickly a market can grow when it's not encumbered by taxes? In addition, the benefits of cheap, replenishable, domestically produced energy that has no transport cost and isn't subject to scarcity would have an incredibly beneficial impact on the economy as a whole. All of this can happen without taxing or spending a single dollar.

The plan would also give the entrenched players in the energy business the opportunity to invest some of their significant profits into clean energy technology, in order for them to transition to the carbon-neutral energy business with less disruption.

Prize Goals:

•   The winning team should be a U.S. nonprofit submitting a detailed and convincing plan on how they intend to promote and lobby for the enactment of a single law: "A 50 year tax holiday on all profits from either the generation of carbon-neutral energy, the manufacture and sale of equipment that generates carbon-neutral energy, and the licensing of patents pertaining to carbon-neutral energy generation."
•   The winning team or its team members should have a track record of successfully lobbying to enact legislation in the U.S. Congress.
•   The winning team or its team members should have a record of working with both major parties.
•   Ideally, the winning team should show how they can scale up to enact similar legislation internationally.

All images courtesy of Wikipedia.