Bipartisan Conversation on Pricing Carbon Emissions

Originally aired August 29, 2018

Co-hosted by SSF and Arizona State University’s Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, this session brings together voices from across the political spectrum to examine market-based pathways to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. With federal progress on climate having stalled, legislators and advocates on both sides of the aisle have reinvigorated efforts to use carbon pricing as a durable, economically sound solution — and this conversation explores what a viable, bipartisan policy could look like.

Speakers

Robert Litterman (Moderator)

Founding Partner, Kepos Capital; Former Head of Risk Management, Goldman Sachs

Robert Litterman is a founding partner of Kepos Capital, a systematic macro investment manager. He retired in 2009 after a 23-year career at Goldman Sachs, where he served in research, risk management, investments, and thought leadership. An advocate for carbon pricing as a risk management imperative, he serves on the boards of the World Wildlife Fund, Resources for the Future, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Sloan Foundation.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse

U.S. Senator (D-RI); Member, Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) is a member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works and a co-founder of the Senate Climate Action Task Force. He has been one of Congress’s most persistent advocates for climate legislation and in 2018 co-sponsored the American Opportunity Carbon Fee Act, which would implement a carbon tax as a market-based approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Jerry Taylor

President, Niskanen Center

Jerry Taylor is the President of the Niskanen Center, a libertarian-leaning think tank that has made the case for immediate decarbonization through carbon taxation on risk management grounds. Prior to founding the Center in 2014, Taylor spent 23 years at the Cato Institute, where he was a leading skeptic of climate action — making his evolution into a prominent advocate for carbon pricing a notable story in the bipartisan climate debate.

Nathaniel Keohane

Senior Vice President, Environmental Defense Fund

Nathaniel Keohane is Senior Vice President at the Environmental Defense Fund, where he leads EDF’s climate program and advocates for environmentally effective and economically sound climate policy. An expert on the design and performance of cap-and-trade programs and other market-based instruments, he played a central role in shaping EDF’s approach to carbon pricing at the state, national, and international level.

Ted Halstead

Chairman, CEO & Founder, Climate Leadership Council

Ted Halstead is the Chairman, CEO, and founder of the Climate Leadership Council, whose mission is to convene global opinion leaders around the most cost-effective, popular, and equitable climate solutions — including a carbon dividend approach that would return revenue directly to American households. He previously founded New America, a centrist public policy institute, where he served as President and CEO from 1999 to 2007.