Ted Halstead#Climate Leadership Council

Halstead earned a bachelor's degree in 1990{{cite web | url=http://dartmouthdc.org/webster/2002/intro.html | title=Daniel Webster Distinguished Service Award for 2002 - Opening Remarks | publisher=The Dartmouth Club of Washington, D.C. | date=April 6, 2002 | accessdate=October 18, 2011 | author=Sherman, Charles | quote=Ted Halstead, Dartmouth Class of 1990, marches to a different drummer. He worked his way through Dartmouth on a different schedule. He chooses different measures for economic and personal success. He uses different political labels. And he is already making a difference for thinkers of his generation and for the rest of us. | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041120022418/http://dartmouthdc.org/webster/2002/intro.html | archive-date=November 20, 2004 }} from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire where he graduated magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in philosophy. He received his MPA in 1998 from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, where he was a Montgomery Fellow.{{cite web | url=http://www.hks.harvard.edu/news-events/news/alumni/public-service-innovators-ted-halstead-mpa-1998-bringing-new-america-to-the-fore | title=Public Service Innovators | publisher=Harvard University | work=Alumni Stories | date=March 9, 2001 | accessdate=October 18, 2011 | author=Tamer, Mary | quote=Ted Halstead (MPA 1998) started his first think tank -- Redefining Progress -- at the age of 25 with a $15,000 grant. Four years later after growing it into a $2 million institute, he was off to the Kennedy School. From there, Halstead launched a second think tank, the New America Foundation, a $4 million public policy institute with an agenda to introduce new voices and views with a bipartisan tone.}}

Halstead was the founder, chairman, and CEO of the Climate Leadership Council, which promotes carbon dividends as a cost-effective, politically viable, and equitable way to reduce carbon pollution.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-02-10/this-man-wants-to-sell-republicans-on-a-carbon-tax|title=This Tax Could Save The Planet From Climate Change|last=Roston|first=Eric|date=February 10, 2017|work=Bloomberg|access-date=February 20, 2017}} The CLC was soft-launched on May 19, 2016,{{cite news|url=https://origin-www.bloombergview.com/articles/2016-05-20/a-carbon-dividend-is-a-great-idea-somewhere-else|title=A Carbon Dividend Is a Great Idea... Somewhere Else|date=May 20, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170320033851/https://origin-www.bloombergview.com/articles/2016-05-20/a-carbon-dividend-is-a-great-idea-somewhere-else|archive-date=March 20, 2017|url-status=dead|publisher=Bloomberg View|last1=Flavelle|first1=Christopher}} with the publication of Halstead's white paper, "Unlocking the Climate Puzzle".{{cite journal|date=May 19, 2016|title=Unlocking the Climate Puzzle|url=https://www.clcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Unlocking_The_Climate_Puzzle.pdf|journal=Climate Leadership Council|last1=Halstead|first1=Ted|accessdate=July 25, 2016|archive-date=March 12, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312082658/https://www.clcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Unlocking_The_Climate_Puzzle.pdf|url-status=dead}} The report summarizes the economic, geopolitical, and psychological reasons that climate progress is deadlocked. It suggests that a carbon dividends plan could overcome each of these barriers.

The Climate Leadership Council was officially launched on February 8, 2017, with the publication of "The Conservative Case for Carbon Dividends", co-authored by James A. Baker III, Martin Feldstein, Halstead, Gregory Mankiw, Henry M. Paulson Jr., George P. Shultz, Thomas Stephenson, and Rob Walton.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/07/science/a-conservative-climate-solution-republican-group-calls-for-carbon-tax.html|title='A Conservative Climate Solution': Republican Group Calls for Carbon Tax|date=February 7, 2017|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 17, 2017|quote=The group, led by former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, with former Secretary of State George P. Shultz and Henry M. Paulson Jr., a former secretary of the Treasury, says that taxing carbon pollution produced by burning fossil fuels is “a conservative climate solution” based on free-market principles.|author=John Schwartz}} This report argues that a new climate strategy based on carbon dividends can strengthen America's economy, reduce regulation, help working-class Americans, shrink government, and promote national security. A profile in Bloomberg suggested the release of this report "may be the biggest day for climate policy since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015."

Since then the Climate Leadership Council has recruited a number of "Founding Members" which include:

• Corporate Founding Members: AECOM, Allianz, AT&T, Ford, GM, Johnson & Johnson, IBM, MetLife, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo, Santander, Schneider Electric, Unilever
• Energy Founding Members: BHP, BP, Calpine, ConocoPhillips, Exelon, First Solar, Shell, Total, and Vistra Energy
• NGO Founding Members: Conservation International, World Resources Institute, and World Wildlife Fund
• Individual Founding Members: Ben Bernanke, Steven Chu, Ray Dalio, Martin Feldstein, Ted Halstead, Stephen Hawking, N. Gregory Mankiw, Paul Polman, Klaus Schwab, Thomas Stephenson, Lawrence Summers, Ratan Tata, Rob Walton, Christine Todd Whitman, and Janet Yellen{{Cite web|url=https://clcouncil.org/founding-members/|title=Founding Members|date=February 3, 2022 }}

The Climate Leadership Council's Baker-Shultz Carbon Dividends Plan is based on four pillars: (1) a gradually rising carbon fee, (2) carbon dividends for all Americans, (3) regulatory simplification, and (4) border carbon adjustment.{{Cite web|url=https://clcouncil.org/our-plan/|title = Our Plan| date=February 20, 2017 }}

In 2019, the Climate Leadership Council helped organize a large public statement:{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/former-fed-leaders-economists-rally-around-carbon-tax-11547684175|title=Former Fed Leaders, Economists Rally Around Carbon Tax|last=Puko|first=Timothy|date=January 16, 2019|work=The Wall Street Journal}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/teresaghilarducci/2019/03/10/the-tax-economists-love/#155450c5668e|title=The Lovable Carbon Tax|last=Ghilarducci|first=Teresa|date=March 10, 2019|work=Forbes}} The Economists Statement on Carbon Dividends, first published in The Wall Street Journal and signed by over 3,500 U.S. economists, including all four living former Chairs of the Federal Reserve (Janet Yellen, Ben Bernanke, Alan Greenspan, and Paul Volcker), 27 Nobel Laureate economists, and 15 former chairs of the President's Council of Economic Advisors.{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/economists-statement-on-carbon-dividends-11547682910|title=WSJ Economists' Statement|date=January 16, 2019|work=The Wall Street Journal}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.econstatement.org/|title=Economists' Statement on Carbon Dividends|website=Economists' Statement on Carbon Dividends}}

Halstead was founding CEO of Americans For Carbon Dividends, a 501(c)(4) lobbying organization that promoted a national carbon dividends.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/10/climate/white-house-approves-climate-report-what-that-means.html|title=The White House Approved a Climate Report (and What That Even Means)|last1=Friedman|first1=Lisa|date=October 10, 2018|work=The New York Times|access-date=February 2, 2020|last2=Schwartz|first2=John|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|last3=Garcia|first3=Eduardo}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.afcd.org/about-us/|title=AFCD: About Us|website=Americans for Carbon Dividends}} The national co-chairs of Americans for Carbon Dividends are former Republican Senate majority leader Trent Lott and former Democratic Senator John Breaux.{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-conservative-political-group-to-push-for-u-s-carbon-tax-1529444820|title=Conservative Group Will Push for Carbon Tax, a Contrast to GOP Resistance|last=Puko|first=Bradley Olson and Timothy|date=June 19, 2018|work=Wall Street Journal|access-date=February 2, 2020|language=en-US|issn=0099-9660}}{{Cite news|url=https://grist.org/article/republicans-are-backing-a-carbon-dividend-what-the-heck-is-that/|title=Republicans are backing a 'carbon dividend.' What the heck is that?|last=Yoder|first=Kate|date=June 21, 2018|work=Grist}} Americans for Carbon Dividends was publicly launched in June 2018 with the publication of a New York Times op-ed by Lott and Breaux, entitled “How to Break the Climate Impasse.”{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/20/opinion/climate-change-fee-carbon-dioxide.html|title=Opinion {{!}} Here's How to Break the Impasse on Climate|last1=Lott|first1=Trent|date=June 20, 2018|work=The New York Times|access-date=February 2, 2020|last2=Breaux|first2=John|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/19/climate/carbon-tax-climate-change.html|title=New Group, With Conservative Credentials, Plans Push for a Carbon Tax|last=Schwartz|first=John|date=June 19, 2018|work=The New York Times|access-date=February 2, 2020|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}

Americans for Carbon Dividends is funded by leading auto manufacturers, tech companies, energy companies, and trade associations from across the economy, including those in oil and gas, solar, wind, nuclear and geothermal.{{Cite news|url=https://www.axios.com/carbon-tax-campaign-unveils-new-details-and-backers-37a1f955-8231-4022-9372-be624aef86ae.html|title=Carbon tax campaign unveils new details and backers|last=Harder|first=Amy|date=September 11, 2019|work=Axios}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/exelon-first-solar-and-awea-support-new-carbon-tax-advocacy-group|title=Exelon, First Solar and AWEA Back a New Bipartisan Carbon Tax Advocacy Group|last=Merchant|first=Emma Foehringer|date=June 21, 2018|website=www.greentechmedia.com|access-date=February 2, 2020}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/energy/gm-and-ford-joining-push-for-gop-backed-carbon-tax|title=GM and Ford joining push for GOP-backed carbon tax|last=Siegel|first=Josh|date=December 19, 2019|work=Washington Examiner}} Americans for Carbon Dividends represents the first time that leading oil and gas companies have put their money behind a meaningful national price on carbon, and the first time that such a broad coalition of U.S. energy interests have co-funded an advocacy campaign to promote a price on carbon.{{Cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2018/10/10/656079752/with-1-million-exxon-mobil-corp-helps-fund-carbon-tax-campaign|title=With $1 Million, Exxon Mobil Corp Helps Fund Carbon Tax Campaign|last=Ydstie|first=John|date=October 10, 2018|work=NPR}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060085977|title=Another GOP group wants to tax carbon. Does it matter?|last=Colman|first=Zack|date=June 21, 2018|work=E&E News}}

As of January 2020, corporate funders of Americans for Carbon Dividends include: AWEA, BP, Calpine, ConocoPhillips, EDF Renewables, Exelon, ExxonMobil, First Solar, Ford, GM, IBM, Shell and Vistra Energy.{{Cite news|url=https://www.axios.com/nuclear-renewable-firms-fund-new-group-pushing-carbon-tax-1529446710-8183d682-e725-4897-b6d8-f8469c09b211.html|title=Nuclear, renewable firms fund new group pushing carbon tax|last=Harder|first=Amy|date=June 19, 2018|work=Axios}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.axios.com/general-motors-ford-carbon-tax-climate-9d1fe89a-bd90-41f7-af23-de536221130d.html|title=General Motors, Ford among new funders of carbon tax push|last=Harder|first=Amy|date=December 19, 2019|work=Axios}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-energy/2019/05/20/behind-oil-majors-lobbying-push-625296|title=Behind oil majors' lobbying push|last=Tamborrino|first=Kelsey|date=May 20, 2019|work=POLITICO}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/energy/oil-and-gas-giant-conocophillips-joins-carbon-tax-push|title=Oil and gas giant ConocoPhillips joins carbon tax push|last=Siegel|first=Josh|date=December 17, 2018|work=Washington Examiner}} Leaders of Americans for Carbon Dividends include former Republican member of Congress Ryan Costello as Managing Director, Steve Rice as Managing Director and Greg Bertelsen as Executive Vice President.{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/energy/gop-carbon-tax-group-takes-its-case-to-the-public-with-new-ad-campaign|title=GOP carbon tax group takes its case to the public with new ad campaign|last=Siegel|first=Josh|date=November 13, 2019|work=Washington Examiner}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-influence/2019/06/28/how-k-street-fared-in-the-second-night-of-the-debate-452220|title=How K Street fared in the second night of the debate|last=Meyer|first=Theodoric|date=June 28, 2019|work=POLITICO}}

In 1993, at age 25, Halstead founded Redefining Progress,{{Cite news |last1= Morin | first1= Richard |last2= Deane |first2= Claudia |date= 2001-12-10 |title= Big Thinker. Ted Halstead's New America Foundation Has It All: Money, Brains and Buzz |work= Style Section | url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2001/12/10/big-thinker/fd1eb0d8-2cc8-4653-b2c5-d1b0b4e6ebab/| publisher = The Washington Post | page =1}} an environmental economics think tank based in San Francisco with a $15,000 seed grant from Echoing Green. He served as Executive Director from 1993 to 1997.

In 1995, Redefining Progress released the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI),{{cite web|url=http://rprogress.org/sustainability_indicators/genuine_progress_indicator.htm|title=Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI)|publisher=Redefining Progress|accessdate=November 14, 2015}} an alternative to the GDP that takes social and environmental costs into account. The GPI was launched in an October 1995 cover story in The Atlantic entitled "If The Economy Is Up, Why Is America Down?" that Halstead co-authored with colleagues Clifford Cobb and Jonathan Rowe.{{cite news|title=If The Economy Is Up, Why Is America Down?|last1=Cobb|first1=Clifford|date=October 1995|work=The Atlantic|last2=Halstead|first2=Ted|last3=Rowe|first3=Jonathan}} In 1997, Redefining Progress organized the Economists' Statement on Climate Change{{cite web|url=http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery/?&dbname=cp105&sid=cp105KGP4l&refer=&r_n=sr054.105&item=&sel=TOC_314499&|title=Committee Reports 105th Congress (1997-1998), Senate Report 105-054|website=THOMAS|publisher=The Library of Congress|accessdate=April 30, 2016}}{{Dead link|date=August 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} to promote market-based solutions to climate change. Over 2,600 economists and 19 Nobel Prize winners signed the statement.

Redefining Progress and Halstead also promoted the idea of a revenue-neutral carbon tax,{{cite news|title=The Green Revenue Path|last1=Halstead|first1=Ted|date=September 10, 1995|newspaper=Washington Post|last2=Rowe|first2=Jonathan|issue=Opinion}} which the government of British Columbia was the first to implement in 2008.{{cite web|url=http://www.fin.gov.bc.ca/tbs/tp/climate/carbon_tax.htm|title=Carbon Tax: Overview of The Revenue-Neutral Carbon Tax|publisher=British Columbia Ministry of Finance|accessdate=November 14, 2015}} Halstead stepped down as executive director of Redefining Progress in 1997, moving into a position on the board. Redefining Progress closed in 2008.

Halstead founded New America (formerly known as New America Foundation) in 1999,{{cite news|title=Silicon Valley's New Think Tank Stakes Out 'Radical Center'|last1=Lewis|first1=Neil A.|date=May 15, 1999|work=New York Times}} at the age of 30, and served as founding President and CEO until 2007. Under his leadership, the organization grew rapidly to a staff of 100 and an annual budget of $10 million.{{cite news|title=Author, Ex-Post Editor To Head D.C. Think Tank|last1=Weil|first1=Martin|date=July 23, 2007|newspaper=Washington Post|last2=Silverman|first2=Elissa}} New America's original mission was to bring new voices and new ideas into the public debate,{{cite news |last1= |first1= |date=August 1999 |title=77 North Washington Street |page=6 |work=The Atlantic Monthly |issue=}} and to break out of the traditional liberal and conservative categories. James Fallows was the original chairman of New America's board of directors. Eric Schmidt, former Executive Chairman of Google and Alphabet Inc, served as chairman of New America's Board from 2008 to 2016.{{cite web|url=https://www.newamerica.org/experts/|title=Board of Directors|last1=New America|accessdate=November 14, 2015}}

Shortly after founding New America, Halstead and Michael Lind co-authored "The Radical Center: The Future of American Politics," which Senator John McCain described as “A political manifesto worthy of the Information Age.”{{cite book |title=The Radical Center: The Future of American Politics |last1=Amazon |year=2002 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing |isbn=0385720297}} As a result, New America became known in its early years as a "Radical Centrist" think tank. On December 10, 2001, The Washington Post published a Styles section profile on Halstead entitled "Big Thinker: Ted Halstead's New America Foundation Has It All: Money, Brains and Buzz".

Steve Coll succeeded Halstead as President and CEO of New America in 2007. Anne-Marie Slaughter became New America's third President and CEO in 2013.{{cite news|url=https://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/02/new-america-foundation-close-to-naming-anne-marie-slaughter-as-president/|title=New America Foundation Naming Anne-Marie Slaughter as President|last1=Cohen|first1=Patricia|date=April 2, 2013|work=New York Times}}

On May 17, 2017, Halstead delivered a TED Talk entitled “A Climate Solution Where All Sides Can Win” at the 2017 TED Annual Conference in Vancouver, British Columbia.{{cite web |last1=YouTube |title=A climate solution where all sides can win, Ted Halstead |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta2Wvy9F_gA |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/ta2Wvy9F_gA |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|website=Youtube |accessdate=September 9, 2018}}{{cbignore}} As of December 2019, that TED Talk had received over 1.5 million views and was translated into 20 languages.{{cite web |last1=Halstead |first1=Ted |title=A climate solution where all sides can win |url=https://www.ted.com/talks/ted_halstead_a_climate_solution_where_all_sides_can_win |website=TED |date=May 17, 2017 |publisher=TED Conferences, LLC |accessdate=June 17, 2018 |ref=Halstead.TED.Talk}}{{cite web |last1=S4CD |title=TED TALK: ALL SIDES CAN WIN |url=https://www.s4cd.org/solution/ |website=S4CD |accessdate=September 9, 2018}}

Halstead began his speech by naming three barriers to climate progress: psychological, geopolitical, and partisan. He argued that the conservative carbon dividends plan that he co-wrote with leading Republican statesmen[https://www.clcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/TheConservativeCaseforCarbonDividends.pdf “The Conservative Case for Carbon Dividends”] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180921033350/https://www.clcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/TheConservativeCaseforCarbonDividends.pdf |date=September 21, 2018 }}, clcouncil.org, February 2017. Retrieved February 7, 2017. can overcome each of these barriers.{{cite web |last1=Komanoff |first1=Charles |title=A climate solution when all sides can win |url=https://www.carbontax.org/blog/2017/05/18/a-climate-solution-where-all-sides-can-win/ |website=Carbon Tax Center |accessdate=September 9, 2018}} He said, “I'm convinced that the road to climate progress in the United States runs through the Republican party and the business community.” Under the plan, he said, “We would end up with less regulation and far less pollution at the same time, while helping working-class Americans get ahead.”{{cite news |last1=TED Conferences |title=Transcript of: A climate solution where all sides can win |url=https://www.ted.com/talks/ted_halstead_a_climate_solution_where_all_sides_can_win/transcript |website=TED.com |publisher=TED Conferences LLP |accessdate=June 17, 2018}}

At the end of the talk, TED curator Chris Anderson came on stage for a Q&A session with Halstead, and began by saying: "I'm not sure I've seen a conservative get a standing ovation at TED before".

In March 2008, shortly after getting married, Halstead and his wife Veronique Bardach set sail and departed westward from France aboard a 50-foot Catana catamaran yacht that they named Verite (a play on the first two letters of their names and of their dog Ria, who accompanied them).{{cite news|url=http://www.cruisingworld.com/beginners-luck|title=Beginner's Luck|date=June 7, 2011|work=Cruising World|publisher=Cruising World|issue=June 2011|last1=Halstead|first1=Ted|accessdate=January 8, 2017}}{{cite web |last1=Bloomberg |title=Ted Halstead. Executive Profile |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=134288266&privcapId=49437705 |website=Bloomberg |accessdate=September 9, 2018}}

Although Halstead and Bardach hoped to complete a circumnavigation by returning to the Mediterranean via the Red Sea, the piracy situation in the Gulf of Aden in 2012 was too dangerous. So they sold their boat in Bali, Indonesia in late 2012 after 4.5 years of non-stop sailing during which they visited five continents.{{cite web |last1=TED Talks |title=Ted Halstead Speaker Bio |url=https://www.ted.com/speakers/ted_halstead |website=TED.com |accessdate=September 9, 2018}}

Halstead died on September 2, 2020, when he fell 30 meters while hiking in Es Capdellà, Spain.{{cite news|url = https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/Head-of-conservative-climate-group-dies-in-hiking-15549639.php|title = Ted Halstead, head of the Climate Leadership Council, dies in hiking accident|work = Houston Chronicle|date = September 8, 2020|accessdate = September 9, 2020|last = Osborne|first = James}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.ultimahora.es/sucesos/ultimas/2020/09/02/1193679/fallece-senderista-caer-por-acantilado-metros-capdella.html|title=Fallece un senderista al caer por un acantilado de 30 metros en es Capdellà|date=September 2, 2020}}

• Ted Halstead and Michael Lind (2001). The Radical Center: The Future of American Politics. Doubleday. 264 pages. {{ISBN|0-385-50045-9}}
• Ted Halstead (2004). The Real State of The Union. Basic Books. 287 pages. {{ISBN|0-465-05052-2}}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.ted.com/talks/ted_halstead_a_climate_solution_where_all_sides_can_win/ TED Talk by Ted Halstead]
• [https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2001/12/10/big-thinker/fd1eb0d8-2cc8-4653-b2c5-d1b0b4e6ebab/ Washington Post Profile of Ted Halstead]
• [https://books.google.com/books?id=EqZmoEucP0sC&dq=the%20radical%20center%20halstead&pg=PT8 Google Books excerpt of "The Radical Center"]
• {{C-SPAN|46081}}
• [https://www.afcd.org Americans for Carbon Dividends]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Halstead, Ted}}

Category:1968 births

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Category:Radical centrist writers