Human-induced climate change and environmental degradation is no longer a nebulous future threat. It’s here, and it threatens global economic development, global health, and global security. Last year, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization declared climate change a “defining challenge of our time,” posing dangers to the security of allied nations and elsewhere.1 Given its influence over global supply chain practices, which account for a significant portion of global emissions, CBP hopes to help move the needle toward more sustainable trade through the Green Trade Strategy, which the agency launched in 2022.
“Climate change has implications for every aspect of CBP’s core mission … we have no choice but to approach this as an opportunity for positive action, innovation and risk-informed decision making. Unchecked global warming threatens the welfare and livelihood of all those who populate this planet … the future of trade itself is jeopardized by the climate impacts that we inevitably face,” said CBP’s Director of Green Trade Lea-Ann Bigelow.
Customs agencies have long served as the first line of defense against the importation of products that harm the environment and are now uniquely positioned to make an impact in encouraging and enforcing cleaner, more environmentally sustainable international trade flows.
That’s why CBP launched the Green Trade Strategy. Through the strategy, CBP has established a proactive model to combat the negative impacts of climate change and environmental degradation in the context of the trade mission, by incentivizing the reduction of carbon emissions and the adoption of sustainable practices by industry, strengthening CBP’s environmental enforcement posture, and improving the climate resilience and resource efficiency of CBP’s own operations.
