Members of Congress in both parties and chambers have expended significant time, effort and political capital to get support for legislation to study the carbon intensity of certain industrial products in hopes of tying trade policy to climate action.
Their efforts to build a diverse coalition around the idea may have led to a Biden administration decision, announced earlier this week, to take up this task at the executive branch level — but it’s far from clear that effort will lead to a desired outcome.
Some lawmakers and advocates said Thursday the newly announced pilot project to be run by the White House Task Force on Climate, Trade and Industrial Competitiveness, with assistance from the Department of Energy, should not supersede the ongoing efforts to pass a bill that would do something similar with more guardrails and less uncertainty.
“I am glad that the administration agrees with us and is beginning this work to study the emissions of industrial products,” said Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.), who with Rep. John Curtis (R-Utah) is the leading H.R. 8957, the “Providing Reliable, Objective, Verifiable Emissions Intensity and Transparency (PROVE IT) Act.”
