Remarks by Under Secretary Marisa Lago at U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Sustainability and Circular Economy Summit 2024 - June 3

Washington, DC
June 3, 2024

As Prepared

Thank you, Khush, for your kind introduction. I’m delighted to be here to discuss the private sector’s vital role in promoting sustainability and in addressing the global climate crisis. 

Before diving into today’s focus on climate and clean energy, I’ll share a few words about the organization that I’m privileged to lead: the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration, or ITA for short. With over 2,300 trade and business experts across 100 U.S. locations and 80 international markets, ITA advances economic opportunity for U.S. businesses, workers and communities through international trade and investment.

In particular, we proudly promote U.S. climate and clean technology exports to achieve global climate goals. We strengthen the competitiveness of U.S. industry, while also leveling the playing field for U.S. businesses and workers by enforcing U.S. trade laws and agreements. And, we provide valuable industry data and analysis, including the latest commercial trends and the top export markets for different sectors.     

Under the Biden-Harris Administration, ITA has doubled down on advancing climate and clean technology partnerships as a top policy priority. And, I’ll add, climate and clean energy are often the number one topic that foreign government and business leaders raise with me whenever I travel internationally — including, just the past two months in Argentina, Uruguay, Türkiye, Poland, Guatemala and El Salvador.

For decades, the United States has been — and continues to be — a global leader in innovation and technology, especially for climate and clean energy solutions. Going beyond the major U.S. multinational firms that are household names, the United States boasts an entire innovation ecosystem — including through our top universities and wide array of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. And, thanks to our colleagues at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, a peer agency at the Commerce Department, this vibrant innovation ecosystem is sustained by strong intellectual property protections.   

To advance the climate and clean energy transition in particular, ITA promotes U.S. companies as they seek to export their most cutting-edge technologies, services and expertise to climate and clean energy projects across the globe. In practical terms, ITA supports U.S. companies competing for projects being tendered by foreign governments. We engage our counterparts in foreign governments, urging them to eliminate trade barriers. And, we foster partnerships that create new opportunities for U.S. industry. 

One of the most exciting recent examples is a landmark deal with two U.S. companies — Westinghouse and Bechtel — to build Poland’s first-ever civil nuclear power plant, which ultimately seeks to produce enough energy to power 13 million homes.      

As this remarkable example demonstrates, promoting U.S. clean energy solutions not only advances commercial opportunities for U.S. companies, but also helps our trading partners achieve their ambitious climate and clean energy goals. And, importantly, this project will markedly enhance Poland’s energy security, which we all know is a key element of national security.

At the Commerce Department, we love statistics, so here are a few more to give you a snapshot of ITA’s reach and impact. From 2021 to 2023, ITA supported U.S. companies involved in over $5.4 billion in climate projects abroad. ITA has promoted U.S. climate exports through over 300 different outreach events. And, ITA has facilitated nearly $39 billion in climate-related foreign direct investment into the United States, spurred in part by the historic Inflation Reduction Act, or IRA.     

In addition to the IRA, the CHIPS and Science Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law have altogether mobilized the largest-ever climate investments in U.S. history. Totaling over one trillion dollars, these investments have made valuable progress in promoting sustainability here in the United States, while also strengthening the competitiveness of the U.S. clean technology industry around the world.  

Looking ahead to COP29, I’m even more bullish on the opportunities that we can seize together, building on our progress from COP28. Last December, I led ITA’s largest-ever delegation to COP. Over the course of more than 20 events, ITA amplified U.S. industry’s innovation and leadership, emphasizing the U.S. commitment to promote clean technologies and deepening international cooperation on climate. I was proud to support the U.S. Chamber’s largest-ever GreenTech business delegation as a Commerce Department Certified Trade Mission. This is clear evidence that COP is more than a platform to achieve our Paris Agreement commitments; it’s also a consequential business opportunity. 

This year, we look forward to working with our counterparts in Azerbaijan to again promote the private sector’s robust participation and to make COP29 a success. For example, we’ll push for further progress on the Global Methane Pledge, which over 150 countries have joined to reduce by 2030 global methane emissions by at least 30 percent in comparison to 2020 levels. 

Before I close, it bears repeating how indispensable public-private partnerships are to address the global climate crisis. The private sector provides expertise across every corner of the economy, the capacity to invest in new infrastructure, and the ingenuity to bring new innovations to market. 

Reaching the world’s ambitious goal of net-zero emissions by 2050 demands a wholesale transformation of the global economy. The success of that transformation depends in large part on the private sector’s leadership — from firms to investors, to innovators, to workers. U.S. companies are the trusted partners of choice for so many of our counterparts across the globe, and I’m confident in the ability of the U.S. business community and U.S. workers to rise to the challenge. 

ITA is always looking to partner with the private sector to cultivate new commercial opportunities, and we look forward to learning more details about the U.S. Chamber’s plans for yet another GreenTech business delegation to COP29.   

Thank you for your commitment to sustainability and to tackling the climate crisis. Your insights are crucial to ITA — and to governments across the world — as we take on these challenges and opportunities together. With that, I look forward to listening to your discussion. Thank you.