[7][8] Halstead published numerous articles and two books including The Radical Center: The Future of American Politics (co-authored with Michael Lind).
The Climate Leadership Council was officially launched on February 8, 2017, with the publication of "The Conservative Case for Carbon Dividends", co-authored by James A. Baker III, Martin Feldstein, Halstead, Gregory Mankiw, Henry M. Paulson Jr., George P. Shultz, Thomas Stephenson, and Rob Walton.
[17] This report argues that a new climate strategy based on carbon dividends can strengthen America's economy, reduce regulation, help working-class Americans, shrink government, and promote national security.
[26][27] Americans for Carbon Dividends was publicly launched in June 2018 with the publication of a New York Times op-ed by Lott and Breaux, entitled “How to Break the Climate Impasse.”[28][29] Americans for Carbon Dividends is funded by leading auto manufacturers, tech companies, energy companies, and trade associations from across the economy, including those in oil and gas, solar, wind, nuclear and geothermal.
[33][34] As of January 2020, corporate funders of Americans for Carbon Dividends include: AWEA, BP, Calpine, ConocoPhillips, EDF Renewables, Exelon, ExxonMobil, First Solar, Ford, GM, IBM, Shell and Vistra Energy.
[25][39][40] In 1993, at age 25, Halstead founded Redefining Progress,[41] an environmental economics think tank based in San Francisco with a $15,000 seed grant from Echoing Green.
Redefining Progress and Halstead also promoted the idea of a revenue-neutral carbon tax,[45] which the government of British Columbia was the first to implement in 2008.
[48] New America's original mission was to bring new voices and new ideas into the public debate,[49] and to break out of the traditional liberal and conservative categories.
[54][53][57] He said, “I'm convinced that the road to climate progress in the United States runs through the Republican party and the business community.”[57] Under the plan, he said, “We would end up with less regulation and far less pollution at the same time, while helping working-class Americans get ahead.”[58][53] At the end of the talk, TED curator Chris Anderson came on stage for a Q&A session with Halstead, and began by saying: "I'm not sure I've seen a conservative get a standing ovation at TED before".
[6][59][60][2] Although Halstead and Bardach hoped to complete a circumnavigation by returning to the Mediterranean via the Red Sea, the piracy situation in the Gulf of Aden in 2012 was too dangerous.