The consequences of climate change are rapidly increasing, as is obvious from last winter’s ferocious beach-eroding storms and this summer’s record-breaking heat. Experts tell us that we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050 — only 26 years from now. Rhode Island’s Act on Climate law mandates reductions in line with this goal.

While we are working hard to eliminate emissions in the electric power and transportation sectors, there’s also much to do in another sector of our lives: manufacturing. Think cement, aluminum, steel.

Producing these products efficiently makes them less expensive, a principle that appeals on both sides of the political divide. And here is where the bipartisan PROVE It Act comes into play.  

American manufacturers already abide by some of the cleanest production standards in the world, including the amount of greenhouse gas emissions released per unit of product (emission intensity). This will give us an advantage in exporting goods according to new rules of world trade being initiated by the European Union that impose higher tariffs on imported products manufactured with higher emission intensities. These tariffs encourage cleaner industrial production worldwide to meet global climate goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The PROVE IT Act requires the U.S. Department of Energy, in collaboration with other federal agencies, to obtain high-quality data to back up our claims of low carbon production by determining the emission intensities of domestically produced goods compared to those around the globe. By bringing estimated greenhouse gas emissions into consideration, the PROVE IT Act can help set the stage for new standards for international trade that would level the playing field, protecting manufacturers in the United States and other countries that use cleaner manufacturing processes from unfair competition by those that use cheaper, but dirtier, methods to produce their trade products. It could incentivize them to adopt cleaner tecshnologies.

We want to thank Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-R.I., for co-sponsoring these bills in an important bipartisan effort — seven Democrats, five Republicans, and one Independent co-sponsors in the Senate; 11 Democrats and 10 Republicans in the House.

The PROVE IT Act can help mitigate damages associated with greenhouse gas emissions and help U.S. manufacturing remain competitive. This is not a zero-sum game in which one party wins at the expense of another; we can search for win-win solutions. In our politically polarized environment, more bipartisan legislation that we can help push over the finish line nationally, and within states, is exactly what we need to help mitigate climate damage. And by avoiding future damage, we can save money, which can then be reinvested in ways that create jobs, protect human health, and help sustain our global environment that we all depend on. 

Edward Dettmann is a Kingston, R.I., resident, a member of the Citizens’ Climate Lobby, and is retired from the Environmental Protection Agency, where he conducted marine water quality research at a USEPA laboratory in Narragansett.

Barbara Watts is a Kingston resident, a member of the Citizens Climate Lobby, and is retired from the URI Graduate School of Oceanography, where she conducted research in marine biology, some of it related to effects of climate change.

Hal Walker is a Wakefield resident, a member of the Citizens Climate Lobby, and is retired from the Environmental Protection Agency, where he worked on climate change issues and research at a USEPA laboratory in Narragansett.