Good morning.
Good morning, everyone. Let's see.
All right.
Welcome.
I, I am absolutely thrilled to welcome you to U.S.
Customs and Border Protection.
First ever Green Trade,
Innovation and Incentives Forum,
first ever, which means they'll probably be another one.
Right.
So you got to start somewhere and starting today,
we are all going to work on this problem together.
All right, Show of hands.
Who wants to work on this together?
All right, sweet.
All right.
We have more than 150 companies with us today.
More than 20 federal, state and local government
partners, over 35 foreign countries represented.
And members of the European Union
joining us either virtually or in person.
So if you are with us today, you already know every one of us
has a role to play addressing the existential threat of climate change.
So we have to meet that head on now together
while our daily individual efforts matter.
We are here today because we know we have to think bigger.
We know that human induced climate change
poses a growing threat to our national security.
The global economy, and to the viability of
international trade and CBP's trade mission.
And we know that global supply chains are a major contributor.
We're here today, fittingly, in the U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office, home of the National Inventors Hall of Fame,
to share ideas
because we know that innovation and invention
has helped us surmount some of history's greatest challenges.
We're also here today because we have a shared responsibility
to act, to examine, and in some cases,
ultimately to remake the way we do business.
Our collective actions will add up to a major impact,
and we have an obligation to the communities
we all serve to act in a coordinated fashion.
Building transformative, yet
pragmatic partnerships.
We published the Green Trade Strategy just over a year ago
in direct recognition of Customs mission Critical Stake
and unique capabilities in mitigating mitigating the trade related drivers
and impacts of climate change and environmental degradation.
It's time to move from
thoughtful planning to action.
You may wonder why
CBP of all agencies, is hosting an event like this.
As you as you may already know, global supply chains
account for vast quantities of harmful emissions around the world.
Climate change poses a significant challenge to CBP's trade mission
and is understood to be both a national and economic security concern.
The effects of climate change threaten both military
and civilian infrastructure and operations.
And tackling this issue is increasingly a priority
of the United States government and our international partners.
Executive Order
14008 entitled Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home
and Abroad, places the Climate Crisis at the Center of U.S.
Foreign Policy and National Security and Executive Order 14013,
entitled Rebuilding and Enhancing Programs to Resettle Refugees and Planning
for the Impact of Climate Change on Migration Outlines
Implications for our border operations.
Recently, the Office of the Director
of National Intelligence, ODNI, developed the first ever
National Intelligence Estimate on climate change.
And last year, NATO's strategic concept
effectively its mission statement
recognized climate change as, quote, a defining challenge of our time
with a profound impact on allied security.
It is
essential that we work together to define what the shift
to more sustainable trade looks like
and that and more.
And we need to define what
that shift looks like both today,
in five, ten years, in the future, 50 years from now.
The good news, good news is that many of you are already taking action.
And so are we at CBP.
I am proud to say that this work is not new to CBP,
and I'm excited to learn from you today, and I hope
we will all leave here with some new ideas and a new outlook,
as well as possibilities for future collaboration.
We first launched the Green Trade Strategy in June of 2022
at the World Customs Organization in Brussels, Belgium.
If you haven't read it yet, I have good news for you.
It's only nine pages long
with pictures.
So take 20 minutes today
to read, to visit our website and give it a read.
The strategy has four pillars three of which hinge
on the success of CBP's continued collaboration with the trade community.
The pillars align with broader Department of Homeland Security efforts
and outline how CBP will seek to establish itself as a champion
for the green economy and a leader in the fight against climate change.
The first pillar is incentivize green trade.
This means developing facilitation, benefits
and other incentives to promote environmentally beneficial trade practices
and supply chains, as well as identifying
and removing barriers to sustainable trade practices.
Next, CBP will strengthen our environmental enforcement posture,
which means taking environmental erm- taking enforcement action
against environmental bad actors to drive
meaningful change in trade practices.
The third pillar is to accelerate green innovation.
This means investing in deploying and promoting
innovative, sustainable trade practices
by government and private industry.
And the fourth pillar is improve
climate resilience and resource efficiency.
This means decreasing the greenhouse gas
emissions associated with CBP operations and strengthening
the resiliency and sustainability of trade, infrastructure and assets.
So I want to take a moment
to focus specifically on CBP's environmental enforcement
Pillar, too.
CBP has been enforcing laws against environmental crimes
like illegal logging, illegal and unreported unregulated
fishing, wildlife trafficking and illegal mining for decades.
Enforcement against those crimes helps combat environmental degradation,
protect endangered species, and ensure American consumers
and industry have access to sustainable products.
Environmental trade crimes can have devastating
consequences, not only on the environment, but also on the economic
and social stability of communities around the world.
Did you know that the Lacey Act,
which combats illegal trafficking, wildlife, fish and plants,
and which CBP has robust experience
in enforcing together with its partners,
was first enacted in 1900.
Did you also know.
Raise your hand if you knew.
Okay. I won't call on you.
Okay.
Did you also know that a 2019 study that was led
by the Environmental Protection Agency at the Nogales Mariposa Land Port of Entry
found that unified cargo processing and free
and secure trade programs, fast or fast programs
substantially reduce commercial truck Q
Crossing times and inspection delays to deliver
an approximately 85% reduction in carbon emissions from U.S.
bound traffic. Pretty impressive, right?
So the bottom line is this green business is not entirely new to CBP,
but there is still much room for us to get better,
smarter, stronger and more strategic about it.
We regularly work with our government, nonprofit
and private sector partners to effectively carry out this work.
And many of you are here with us today.
Most recently, the team organized and led to multiagency workshops
to share information about enforcement
approaches, priorities and potential areas for collaboration
with the Canadian Partners on Wildlife Trafficking
and with Mexican Partners on illegal logging and timber trafficking.
Illegal logging, particularly in the Amazon,
not only harms communities but threatens the very air we breathe.
Global trafficking in illicit timber
is valued at $157
billion in criminal proceeds
each year,
representing about half of the illicit proceeds
of all natural resource crimes.
Even more staggering, the World Bank has estimated that the total cost
to global economies of illegal logging and its impacts is between
838 billion to 1.7 trillion
each year.
To underscore how
seriously we take this facet of our mission, the Office of Trade
now has an entire team wholly dedicated to environmental enforcement.
This team has been collaborating with domestic partners, including
some of you and foreign counterparts, to combat these global crimes.
We've also stood up a Green Trade Division responsible for turning all four
of the green pillars of the Green Trade Strategy into action.
And we are incorporating sustainability into everyday processes in line
with our dedication to innovation, climate resilience and resource efficiency.
Under goal pillars three and four.
Now there is
a popular misconception that going green isn't profitable,
that taking a pro-environment approach to business
is incompatible with a return on investment.
I assure you.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
In fact,
adopting sustainable practices now can often mean achieving
greater efficiencies that lead to cost savings and long term financial
and strategic award rewards down the line.
Also, the innovation on the innovation front,
CBP is working with a number of emerging technology
concerns, some of which are here today
through the Department of Homeland Security's Silicon Valley Innovation
Program, which funds innovative work with private sector partners to develop
and adapt commercial technologies for homeland security use cases.
These platforms are testing
that we are testing utilize verifiable credentials,
distributed ledger technology and secure digital passports
to trace a commodity journey through the supply chain.
Providing end to end visibility of the product lifecycle
from raw materials sourcing through manufacturer or transformation
through transportation, all the way to the arrival of the finished product
on the store shelves.
So we are purposefully building in environmental sustainability
considerations to these traceability proofs of concept,
including quantification of carbon emissions, responsible sourcing,
labor certifications and other risk factors,
as well as intellectual property rights and anti-counterfeiting capabilities.
So I mentioned earlier that the Green Trade Strategy
is only nine pages with pictures,
but in that brevity lies opportunity.
We can fill it in with the best and the brightest ideas from the experts
in this room without sacrificing our respective missions
or need for a return on our investments.
Our focus today will be centered around our first and third green trade
strategy goals, incentivize green trade
and accelerate green innovation at CBP.
We hope this forum presents a launching point.
Our vision is to expedite the transition to green trade practices
and enhance green standards around the world, while also promoting
green trade research and shaping customs processes toward a sustainable future.
Now, let
me share a few highlights from the exciting agenda
our fantastic Green Trade Division has put together for you today.
Later, we'll have the Trade Sustainability
Leadership Showcase panel ♫ do-do-doo ♫.
It sounds like you have to say that after that, right?
Yeah.
This is an event we've been very excited about and we're going to get to hear
input and ideas from DHL, Expeditors
International Under Armor and RTI Co-op.
The panel will highlight various ways that organizations
within the international trade community are leading in their efforts
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, conserve natural resources,
and increase overall sustainability in their operations.
We'll discuss best practices and lessons learned and talk through the challenges
present in transitioning to sustainable practice practices.
After lunch, the Call to Action panel
featuring a discussion of a whole of government approach
to address and invest in global sustainability efforts,
highlighting the need for interagency investment to create effective change.
We'll close out our day
with the vitally important public comment session.
CBP has invited members of the public to provide their feedback
on the Green trade strategy, including potential operational policy
or regulatory changes to support supply chain sustainability.
Our panel of experts will respond to 25
pre-vetted comments that we received in advance of this event.
In addition to our dynamic
panels, we have a truly impressive lineup of speakers,
including CBP's own acting Commissioner, Troy Miller.
Tim Figures, the Associate Director of Global
Trade and Investment at the Boston Consulting Group.
Kimberly Stamatis Assistant
Secretary of Customs and Trade Policy at the Australian Border Force.
And Ambassador Jamie White, Deputy United States Trade Representative.
And immediately following me,
you'll hear from Vaishali Aduba, Commissioner for patents at the U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office.
So tackling climate
change and environmental degradation
can feel overwhelming, right?
We hope that after today's event you will feel empowered.
None of us can take this on alone,
but together we can make a tremendous impact.
And truthfully, each of us has an obligation to act
for our customers, for our stakeholders,
and for the communities that we all serve.
And we can't stop until we've found all of the double wins
and reach the triple bottom line, folks, profit
people, planet
by doing that.
We make our supply chains more resilient and we raise the bar
for what competitive trade looks like
in a modern era.