Soon after graduating, and joining the Australian Government's Treasury, Hatfield Dodds was seconded to the Canadian Department of Finance for several years and lived in Ottawa with his family.

touted[2] as of similar importance to Sir Nicholas Stern's Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change for the Government of the United Kingdom (to which he contributed a submission), Hatfield Dodds as lead author argued for deep cuts in Australia's greenhouse gas emissions in the next 40 years (to 2050) and that the economic costs are modest and manageable and, indeed, preferable to the consequences of not acting.

"It is much more disruptive and costly to step up action than to relax it so it is better to start off with the most stringent target you can imagine and that is what we have modelled...

[2][3] In 2022, the Albanese government commissioned an Independent Review of Australian Carbon Credit Units, that reported in December 2022.

[4] The Bulletin magazine's 28 October 2003 edition named Hatfield Dodds in its inaugural 'Smart 100' list of leading Australian innovators.