Hello and welcome to the Council’s 2023 Year in Review! Hello and welcome to the Council's 2023 Year in Review! Congratulations, we've all made it to the end of a busy year marked by strengthened partnerships, new legislative champions, and substantial advancements in market-based climate policy solutions. We are proud of the work accomplished by the Council and our stakeholders in 2023 and look forward to building on these successes next year: 1. U.S. Climate and Trade Policy Development Moves Forward As Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) noted earlier this year, the Council is “serious about the issue, and serious about the solutions, and serious about the process of legislating.” This diligence delivered results, as we worked with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to advance a variety of approaches designed to lower global emissions and maximize America’s carbon advantage. First up: the PROVE IT Act. We were delighted to see Sens. Cramer and Chris Coons (D-DE) cite our research as an inspiration for this bill, which would create official, government-verified values for the carbon intensities of products in various industries on a country by country basis. The senators joined us for an in-person event this fall to discuss the opportunities in climate and trade. This year also saw the first-ever Republican-led carbon import fee bill, the Foreign Pollution Fee Act, introduced by Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC). We appreciated the opportunity to preview the forthcoming bill at an event with Sen. Cassidy in June. Finally, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-WA-1) led the bicameral introduction of the Clean Competition Act. We appreciated the opportunity to discuss the bill with Sen. Whitehouse at a webinar just last week. While much work lays ahead, the stage is set for serious action on climate and trade. Sens. Coons and Cramer discuss the PROVE IT Act with the Council's Greg Bertelsen. 2. Council Delivers In-Depth Insights and Education The Council’s impact on policy has always been rooted in our cutting-edge research and our collaboration with diverse stakeholders. This year we dove deep into policy details and broke down complex topics for a broad audience. Early in the year, we convened working groups to map out the landscape on carbon accounting, drawing on companies’ expertise on existing voluntary and mandatory emissions reporting programs. Then, we held a series of discussions on best practices for border carbon adjustments (BCAs), attended by industry, nonprofits, think tanks, and congressional staff. These meetings helped us all to formulate opinions about BCAs and the series culminated in the release of the Council’s principles for well-design carbon import fees. Also released this year: a first-of-its-kind analysis on carbon import fees and the WTO, which analyzed how emerging climate and trade policies would fare if challenged on the international stage. This year also saw climate and trade policies move from the theoretical to the practical as the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism's (CBAM) phase-in period launched in October. The Council unpacked the new CBAM reporting rules and analyzed its projected impacts on U.S. industry. We are also closely watching the Global Arrangement for Sustainable Steel and Aluminum, and made the case for continuing U.S.-EU negotiations on what would be the world’s first “carbon club." Former WTO Appellate Body members James Bacchus and Jennifer Hillman discuss carbon import fees and the WTO with the Council's Catrina Rorke. 3. Carbon Dividends Continue to Offer Comprehensive Path Forward The most powerful domestic policy tool left unused in our toolbox, a price on carbon, would supercharge innovation across all economic sectors. Our white paper, “Unlocking Net Zero Emissions: Accelerating Innovation & Deployment through Carbon Pricing,” emphasized how not-yet-available technologies will be responsible for a massive share of emissions reductions. No tool would be more powerful at creating the financial incentives needed to push new clean energy technologies from a promising idea all the way to mass deployment in the marketplace than an economywide carbon price. We spoke about these and other game changing impacts of the Baker-Shultz Carbon Dividends Plan at events hosted by CED Policy Watch, the Tax Foundation, and more. This year, we also supported the reintroduction of the MARKET CHOICE Act, led by Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA-1). Stay tuned for more, as we’re working on a new analysis of carbon pricing in a post-IRA world. The Invention-Deployment Continuum from “Unlocking Net Zero Emissions: Accelerating Innovation & Deployment through Carbon Pricing.” 4. Council Strengthens Connections in the U.S. and Abroad The Council is proud to collaborate with a diverse group of stakeholders to promote effective climate solutions. This year, we sent our largest ever delegation to COP28, where we engaged members of Congress and foreign officials on climate and trade policy, spoke at and attended events on international climate cooperation, and absorbed insights from the summit’s first-ever ‘Trade Day.’ Beyond COP, we appreciated the opportunity to speak at a range of events over the past year, hosted by our friends at the Bipartisan Policy Center, BlueGreen Alliance, Business Council for Sustainable Energy, CERAWeek, Harvard Kennedy School, Industrial Energy Consumers of America, RepublicEn, and more. Furthermore, we were honored to have our work recognized by the broader D.C. policy community: Council CEO Greg Bertelsen was named to Washingtonian’s 500 Most Influential People in D.C. list, and an E&E News profile story on the Council described us as a “sounding board” for bipartisan Senate climate and trade development. To all the dedicated partners who we worked with in D.C. and across the world this year, thank you. Sens. Coons and Murkowski and Reps. Castor, Curtis, and Peters joined a COP28 panel on rewarding environmental performance in trade, moderated by Council CEO Greg Bertelsen. 5. Our Team is Growing Finally, this was a big year for the Council’s growth as an organization. We welcomed several new members to our team, enhancing our in-house capabilities. Conner Brace joined in February to lead our work with Congress and the administration. Scott Nystrom, an economist with deep expertise in modeling climate and energy policies, joined the team in August, bringing with him an entirely new skillset that will be invaluable to our partners on and off the hill. Finally, Carly Kessler joined our government relations team in August and is already playing an important role supporting our outreach on Capitol Hill. As our team and capabilities continue to grow, we’re excited to partner with you again in 2024 and make it our most impactful year yet. Conner Brace, Scott Nystrom, and Carly Kessler We wish you a wonderful holiday season and a Happy New Year. Want to stay in touch with the Council in 2024? Follow us on social, sign up for new blog post alerts, or visit our website for all the latest research, news, and events. ‌ ‌ Climate Leadership Council | 1900 M St, Washington, DC 20036 Unsubscribe [email protected] Update Profile | Constant Contact Data Notice Sent by [email protected] powered by Try email marketing for free today!