46 of World's Biggest Corps Unite to Urge Global Climate Regime
by Stacy Feldman - Nov 12th, 2007
A few weeks ago, we reported on 11 US states doing something unprecedented. They bypassed the feds and forged a brand new global cap-and-trade scheme with several EU member states, New Zealand, Norway, and Canadian provinces. It’s called ICAP. Now we’re seeing some of the world’s largest corporations following in their footsteps.
Their initiative is called 3C, for Combat Climate Change. And it’s comprised of 46 major corporations. In terms of money and influence, this is a team of corporate heavyweights. The list includes the following Wall Street behemoths: BP, General Electric, AIG, PG&E Energy, to name a few. Hard for world leaders not to take notice. So what do they want? A global cap-and-trade scheme. And binding targets on businesses.
In other words, they want precisely what President Bush opposes.
Why? They see the inevitable. Global markets are moving in that direction, and a tremendous amount of dollars is at stake in the carbon trading biz. Best to have a seat at the table when the final scheme gets plotted out. Best to safeguard a piece of the pie.
All of this is ultimately to apply pressure in the lead up to the two-week climate change conference taking place in Bali, Indonesia in December. It's simple. They want to shape the post-Kyoto accord, which is set to expire in 2012.
At the G8 conference in June, countries agreed to secure a post-Kyoto framework by the end of 2008. Even Bush signed on.The UN head Ban Ki-moon and EU leaders are dead serious about this. They want to map out the negotiating agenda for a Kyoto replacement this December. In fact, Ban just completed a very media-friendly fact-finding mission in Antarctica to prepare the ground and build the sense of urgency around Bali.
But what about Bush? He says he's on board. But how serious can he possibly be about fashioning a post-Kyoto plan if he's still against any mandatory limits on emissions? Not very. The rest of the world has conceded that strong climate policy is unavoidable and that if done right, it can give economies, and the bottom lines of companies, a major boost. And they’re working to make it work.
The birth of ICAP and 3C provide more evidence of just how isolated the Bush administration has become on climate action.
And time will tell at Bali if that EU diplomat was correct. The one who recently told Forbes that despite popular myths, it’s the US, not China, who's actually the main obstacle to a new climate deal.
Bookmark/Search this post with:
Post new comment