ACE 2.0, 21CCF, Unified Cargo Processing Part of CBP's Green Trade Efforts, Officials Say

ACE 2.0 and the 21st Century Customs Framework are "absolutely key" to moving forward with CBP's Green Trade Strategy "with the urgency that is required as we globally fight climate change," CBP Executive Assistant Commissioner AnnMarie Highsmith said at a July 12 press conference. Highsmith said both initiatives will allow for improved traceability to aid sustainability efforts and, alongside improved CBP cargo processing at ports, help move goods more quickly across the border.

The initiatives will include "increased data sharing, increased access to information concerning imports and conveyances earlier in the supply chain process, so when that merchandise reaches the border, we've already been able to identify risk and move it more swiftly across the border without delay," Highsmith said the day after CBP's Green Trade Innovation & Incentives Forum.

CBP is looking to revise "many of our processes that may still have components that are on paper," which slow the processes down. 21CCF will also bring in partner government agencies (PGAs) to participate in the import process and help CBP and other agencies get to a "1USG" release across the government, Highsmith said. Along with that, ACE 2.0 "will bring to full realization additional technologies being built into ACE 2.0, including digital ledger technology and improved tracing technologies," which will help bring CBP's vision to "full realization," she said.

The importance of interagency work being "streamlined at the border" was a focus of a request for public comments CBP issued in advance of the conference. Lea-Ann Bigelow, director of green trade at CBP, said the importance of "traceability and data transparency" was brought up by commenters and something that is going to be "key if we're going to move forward in sustainability efforts." She said "everything that we want to build into our new ACE platform is going to help us with sustainability and our commenters were telling us that."

Cargo processing is also a key component in CBP's Green Trade Strategy, Highsmith said. CBP's unified cargo processing program "has drastically reduced carbon emissions due to reduced track wait time" in those ports of entry and "communities where they're located," Highsmith said. The program has previously been discussed as a way to save money at the ports (see 2209270020 and 2212160055).

Highsmith said the agency is looking to roll out programs similar to the unified cargo processing "across all modes," including for "improved infrastructure and programs and also alignment of trusted trader" types of programs. These programs will help "the merchandise and the people and the conveyances and the individuals moving the merchandise" to "move more expeditiously back and forth across the border," she said.

CBP is "anxious" to get the initiatives going "and see what happens," she said. That being said, CBP has "a number of different fronts that we're pushing on," according to Highsmith. The "26 land border facilities are currently being brought into a future state of sustainability with money from the bipartisan infrastructure bill," Highsmith said, also pointing to engagement from their Silicon Valley Innovation Program partners, and other programs to reduce emissions as an agency.