Mission
The Climate Leadership Council is an international policy institute founded in collaboration with a who’s who of business, opinion and environmental leaders to promote a carbon dividends framework as the most cost-effective, equitable and politically-viable climate solution.
Despite mounting risks from climate change and growing international calls for action, leading nations have yet to settle on a winning strategy capable of reducing greenhouse gas emissions at the necessary scale or speed. Economists agree that a carbon fee is the most effective means to lower emissions, but advocates lack a successful policy and political formula to advance carbon pricing.
The best solution is to return the income from a nation’s carbon fees directly to its citizens through carbon dividends. This would simultaneously discourage carbon emissions, reward good behavior, and build popular support for a gradually increasing carbon fee. As detailed here, a carbon dividends framework is uniquely suited to our current political moment.
The Climate Leadership Council was founded by Ted Halstead. In February 2017, the Council formally launched with the publication of The Conservative Case for Carbon Dividends, co-authored by James A. Baker, III, Martin Feldstein, Ted Halstead, N. Gregory Mankiw, Henry M. Paulson, Jr., George P. Shultz, Thomas Stephenson and Rob Walton.
Since then, the Council has assembled an exceptionally prominent group of Founding Members, in addition to an experienced staff. The Council is currently active in the United States and United Kingdom, and intends to expand to Germany, China and India next. As a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, the Climate Leadership Council relies on charitable contributions from individual and foundation donors.