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  Yahoo News 22 Jan 07
US chief executives urge Bush to tackle global warming
by Justin Cole

Yahoo News 23 Jan 07
CEOs ask Bush to back climate protection
By H. Josef Hebert, Associated Press Writer

PlanetArk 23 Jan 07
Business Smells Whiff of Money in Climate Change
 Story by Gerard Wynn

LONDON - A spate of corporations flaunting their environmental credentials, and especially their concern about climate change, says as much or more about a shifting commercial landscape as the planet's future.

The so-called US Climate Action Partnership called on Monday for a federal plan to curb greenhouse gas emissions, a day before President George W. Bush is expected to avoid proposing just that in his State of the Union speech.

"These recommendations should catalyze legislative action," said Jeff Immelt, chairman and chief executive officer of General Electric Co., a member of the group, which also includes BP America.

Climate change is set to dominate discussions this week at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, where some 900 company chief executives and board chairmen are expected to rub shoulders with 24 heads of state.

Both GE and BP Plc, parent of BP America, are at the forefront of a new breed of companies that want to be big players in a new clean, or low carbon, economy fashioned by concerns over climate change.

BP says it will direct some 5 percent of its investment over the next 10 years into clean energy -- low carbon energy sources like wind that contribute less to climate change than conventional fossil fuels like coal and oil.

But companies may be able to make climate change work for them without necessarily tweaking their business plans -- with the right policies.

Citigroup noted in a research briefing on Monday that even "dirty" power companies can profit from carbon markets, citing the example of RWE AG, one of Europe's biggest power-producing companies.

Under the EU carbon trading program -- the bloc's main climate change strategy -- power companies get a certain quota of greenhouse gas emission permits for free, but still pass on the price at which they trade to consumers, bagging a profit.

"Despite emitting about 90 million tons of carbon dioxide (in 2005), or about 10 percent of Germany's total, this 'dirty' utility has been enjoying windfall profits," the note said.

LOBBY

The aviation sector joins the EU carbon trading program in 2011, and many airlines have lobbied hard for it as some economists suspect airlines want to cash in on such a windfall. "They could, and I think would, pass on more than 95 percent of the (carbon) cost," said Richard Tol, senior research officer at the Economic Social Research Institute in Dublin.

Citi listed 74 companies across 18 countries that are well-placed to benefit from climate change, including clean energy companies, water utilities, some carmakers and specialist carbon trading firms.

Investment in clean energy has likely set a new record of some US$100 billion over 2006, according to research firm New Energy Finance.

Other business opportunities including cashing in on the growing financial clout of the "green" consumer.

British retailers Marks and Spencer Group Plc and Tesco Plc last week said they would spend 200 million pounds (US$394.9 million) and 500 million respectively to cut carbon emissions and waste in their bids to win over environmentally conscious shoppers.

Tesco cited the commercial success of its premium organic foods.

Meanwhile Japan's Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said on Monday it would begin selling a so-called flexible fuel vehicle which can run on both conventional gasoline and environmentally friendly biofuels in Brazil in the 2007/08 business year, and later on in the United States. (US$1=.5065 Pound)

Yahoo News 23 Jan 07
CEOs ask Bush to back climate protection
By H. Josef Hebert, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - The chief executives of 10 major corporations, on the eve of the State of the Union address, urged President Bush on Monday to support mandatory reductions in climate-changing pollution and establish reductions targets.

"We can and must take prompt action to establish a coordinated, economy-wide market-driven approach to climate protection," the executives from a broad range of industries said in a letter to the president.

Bush, who in the past has rejected mandatory controls on carbon dioxide and other "greenhouse" gases, was expected to address climate change in his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, but has repeatedly argued that voluntary efforts are the best approach.

Major industry groups such as the Chamber of Commerce and National Association of Manufacturers continue to oppose so-called "cap and trade" proposals to cut climate changing pollution, mainly carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels. But the 10 executives, representing major utilities, aluminum and chemical companies and financial institutions, said mandatory reductions are needed and that "the cornerstone of this approach" should be a cap-and-trade system.

The officials, expected to elaborate on their plan at a news conference later Monday, include the chief executives Alcoa Inc., PB America Inc., DuPont Co., Caterpillar Inc., General Electric Co., and Duke Energy Corp.

In the letter they urged Congress to enact legislation "to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions."

Asked about this issue at his daily news briefing Monday, White House press secretary Tony Snow told reporters that "there's been some talk about, sort of, binding of economy-wide carbon caps in the speech, but they are not part of the president's proposal."

The first days of the new Democratically controlled Congress has seen a rush of legislation introduced to address climate change, all of which have some variation of a cap-and-trade approach to dealing with climate change.

Among those pushing cap-and-trade climate bills are two leading presidential aspirants, Sens. Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record), D-Ill. and John McCain (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz.

Essentially such a mechanisms would have mandatory limits of greenhouse gas emissions, but would allow companies to trade emission credits to reduce the cost. Companies that can't meet the cap could purchase credits from those that exceed them or in some case from a government auction.

Also signing the letter to Bush were the executives of Lehman Brothers, PG&E Corp., PNM Resources, FPL Group and four leading environmental organizations.

Yahoo News 22 Jan 07
US chief executives urge Bush to tackle global warming
by Justin Cole

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Some of corporate America's largest companies, including Alcoa, General Electric and DuPont, urged US President George W. Bush and Congress to act swiftly to tackle global warming

The chief executives of nine US corporations, who formed the United States Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), displayed a united front as they called on Bush to support mandatory caps on businesses' greenhouse gas emissions.

"It's time for the nation's political leaders to come together and act," Duke Energy chief executive Jim Rogers told reporters at a press conference at the National Press Club here.

GE chief executive Jeffrey Immelt also called for action to cut greenhouse gases, which many scientists blame for global warming, saying: "We should have goals that are visible."

The corporate chieftains issued their call to arms a day before the US president makes his annual State of the Union speech.

Some pundits believe Bush may address climate change in his remarks. But White House press secretary Tony Snow said "binding economy-wide carbon caps" are not part of Bush's approach, and that the US president believes industry must come up with innovations to address climate change. The administration withdrew from the Kyoto Protocol, which seeks to curb greenhouses gases, in 2001.

Immelt said "information exchanges" had already occurred between the administration and USCAP over its objectives.

Asked by AFP if the White House was supportive of USCAP's stance, Immelt replied: "Yeah, but it's one of those things where you're going to have lots of different points of view. "In general I would say it's a friendly discussion, not an unfriendly discussion."

The powerful coalition, whose members run dozens of industrial plants, also called for urgent US government action to implement a cap-and-trade program, which would enable the trading of emissions permits.

The CEOs said cuts in greenhouse gas emissions make sense environmentally, but also make good business sense and would help America cut its addiction to oil.

The CEOs of Alcoa, PG and E, Lehman Brothers, FPL Group, DuPont, Caterpillar, and PNM Resources also attended the press conference. BP America is a member of the alliance too.

The executives said the coalition had briefed a bipartisan group of lawmakers on its proposals, which are also laid out on the www.us-cap.org website, and said they wanted other firms to join their ranks.

Several bills on global warming have been inked by Democratic lawmakers since the party regained control of Congress this month from Bush's Republican party.

USCAP's members, who began meeting last summer, called on the new Democratic Congress to establish mandatory targets that would allow only a five percent rise in current US greenhouse gas emissions within five years of legislative action. Future targets should then seek to cut emissions to between 70 and 90 percent of today's levels within fifteen years, and emissions should be slashed by between 60 and 80 percent from current levels by 2050.

The Texas utility TXU Corp. said in a statement that it supported some of USCAP's aims. US corporations have shown increased concerns about global warming in recent years, especially since Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf coast in August 2005.

Wal-Mart Stores opened its first "High-Efficiency" store in Missouri on Friday claiming it uses 20 percent less energy than its other superstores.

And Insurers State Farm and Allstate are not seeking new home insurance business along wide stretches of the US east coast amid fears of bigger hurricanes, which some scientists have attributed to climate change.

USCAP also groups the non-governmental Environmental Defense group, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Pew Center on Global Climate Change and the World Resources Institute.
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