Veteran White House and Capitol Hill advisor will play leading role on Council’s climate portfolio
WASHINGTON, DC – March 16, 2021 – The Atlantic Council announced today that veteran White House and congressional climate advisor George David Banks has joined the Global Energy Center as a nonresident senior fellow. Banks brings to the Atlantic Council decades of senior-level experience in fields of energy, environment, foreign policy, and economics. His work at the Atlantic Council will be focused on the intersection of climate and trade policy, a critical issue as climate change takes center stage in the US foreign and economic agenda.
“Dave was a crucial partner for the Global Energy Center while he was at the White House and on Capitol Hill. We are thrilled and honored that he will be joining our team at a time when climate action has become a policy priority,” said Randolph Bell, director of the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center. “Dave is a leading voice on integrating climate and trade policy, and his efforts will help shape a worker-forward climate policy that puts the US back on track as an international climate leader.”
Dave is a leading voice on integrating climate and trade policy, and his efforts will help shape a worker-forward climate policy that puts the US back on track as an international climate leader.
Banks was most recently the chief strategist on the Republican staff of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis. Prior to that role, Banks served as President Donald Trump’s Special Assistant for International Energy and Environment at the National Economic and National Security Councils. He has also served as Republican deputy staff director of the U.S. Senate Environment & Public Works Committee; a Senior Advisor on International Affairs and Climate Change for President George W. Bush; a State Department foreign service officer; and CIA economic analyst.
“The Atlantic Council plays a pivotal role in helping to develop US foreign policy,” said Banks. “I am excited about the opportunity to work with its team of world-class thought leaders to help define the contours of US foreign climate policy as it pertains to an international carbon club. The United States, in coordination with its treaty allies, must merge climate and trade policy in a way that reins in global emissions and meets the long-term objectives of the Paris Agreement.”
The Atlantic Council plays a pivotal role in helping to develop US foreign policy. I am excited about the opportunity to work with its team of world-class thought leaders to help define the contours of US foreign climate policy as it pertains to an international carbon club.
The Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center promotes energy security by working alongside government, industry, civil society, and public stakeholders to devise pragmatic solutions to the geopolitical, sustainability, and economic challenges of the changing global energy landscape. Its internationally-recognized work on climate change focuses on the national and economic security imperatives for robust deployment of clean energy technologies. The Center annually hosts the Atlantic Council Global Energy Forum, the premiere international gathering of government, industry, and thought leaders to set the energy agenda for the year.
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