BPC Announces Membership of Farm and Forest Carbon Solutions Task Force
Washington, DC – The Bipartisan Policy Center today announced the full membership of its Farm and Forest Carbon Solutions Task Force. During the next year, the task force will shape policy recommendations that enhance the role of American agriculture and forestry as valuable natural climate solutions and provide new revenue streams to farmers, ranchers, and foresters. Co-chaired by former Sens. Heidi Heitkamp and Saxby Chambliss, the task force includes leaders across industry, forestry, and agriculture; environmental nonprofits; trade associations; and former government officials.
“We are excited to be joined by the remarkable members of this task force,” Heitkamp said. “Their diverse perspectives will be invaluable in our efforts to advance voluntary, land-based solutions for carbon management.”
America’s natural and working lands underpin the national economy—sustaining food supply, generating timber, and providing wildlife habitat, recreation resources, and environmental benefits. These lands can further deliver natural climate solutions, including carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions reductions in agriculture and forests. In fact, NCS are emerging as a vital element of any comprehensive approach to address the risks of climate change.
“The distinguished members of this group bring important voices to the conversation,” Chambliss said. “America’s farmers, ranchers, foresters, tribal leaders, and public lands managers have a long history of environmental stewardship and innovation. Scaling up natural carbon solutions will require enabling these groups to continue innovating in their stewardship practices.”
With an increasing number of corporations announcing net-zero emission pledges, the market for carbon credits is expected to grow to tens of billions of dollars per year within a decade. If the U.S. can establish an efficient and workable framework for generating and marketing verifiable land-based carbon credits, farmers and forest owners stand to generate substantial new streams of income while contributing to a climate solution.
“We are thrilled to see the task force kick off its meetings by welcoming the new members and their many perspectives,” Sasha Mackler, director of the energy project at BPC, said. “The growing political and commercial interest in natural carbon solutions suggests that a near-term policy agenda developed by a diverse group like our task force could be very impactful for bringing rural economies into the climate dialogue.”
The task force will meet throughout 2021.
Subscribe to the BPC Farm and Forest Carbon Solutions Initiative Newsletter to get the latest updates on the task force.
Learn more about the task force.
Co-Chairs:
- Sen. Saxby Chambliss
- Sen. Heidi Heitkamp
Members:
- Cornelius Blanding, Executive Director, Federation of Southern Cooperatives
- Jad Daley, President & CEO, American Forests
- Callie Eideberg, Director of Government Affairs, Environmental Defense Fund
- Ara Erickson, Director of Corporate Sustainability, Weyerhaeuser
- Whit Fosburgh, President & CEO, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership
- Kathleen Frangione, Head of Environmental Policy, Amazon
- Dan Glickman, Former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture; Senior Fellow, BPC
- Krysta Harden, President & CEO, U.S. Dairy Export Council
- Bob Izlar, Director, University of Georgia Center for Forest Business
- Leonard Jordan, CEO, LJ Conservation Matters, LLC; Board Member, Compatible Lands Foundation; Former Acting Chief, USDA, NRCS
- A.G. Kawamura, Founding Chair, Solutions from the Land; Former California Secretary of Agriculture
- Tom Martin, President & CEO, American Forest Foundation
- Ben Mosely, Vice President, Government Affairs, USA Rice
- Collin O’Mara, President & CEO, National Wildlife Federation
- Laura Wood Peterson, President, LWP Consulting; Ranch Operator; Advisor, Indigo Ag
- Tom Schultz, Director of Resource & Government Affairs, Idaho Forest Group
- Brian Thalmann, Grower; Board Member, Minnesota/National Corn Growers Association
- Bryan Van Stippen, Program Director, National Indian Carbon Coalition