Ten Major U.S. Companies Endorse Mandatory Limits on Global Warming Pollution

[RestoreGore]

Hopefully, this is just the beginning. This is what we need to see on a much more massive scale, and only the kind of grassroots movement Al Gore is now spearheading can do this. And to announce this the day before the dictator's SOTU address is sweet. He is going to act as though he gives a damn about this planet in that speech by supposedly announcing more ethanol use so his other lobby can now make money.... the same companies that produce oil and gas. He however, will not be calling for a cap on CO2 emissions, so anything else he says is EMPTY RHETORIC. I hope we see more companies, states, and citizens PUSHING HARD this year for comprehensive and evasive action to address this crisis on all levels. That I believe must be our focus.
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**Breaking News**

Ten Major U.S. Companies Join Environmental Defense and Others to Endorse Mandatory Limits on America's Global Warming Pollution.
Watch press conference live this morning on CSPAN at 11:30am Eastern.

Dear Friend,


Major U.S. businesses support national global warming action.

Read more.

I want to share with you some exciting and truly historic news on our campaign to stop global warming.

This morning, ten major U.S. businesses and four national environmental organizations issued a joint report, A Call to Action (pdf file), calling on the federal government to quickly pass strong national legislation to cut global warming pollution.

You can watch the press conference live this morning on CSPAN at 11:30am Eastern. You will also be able to watch it online at CSPAN.org.

The companies involved in today's announcement are well-known Fortune 500 corporations: Alcoa, BP America, Caterpillar, Duke Energy, DuPont, Florida Power and Light, General Electric, Lehman Brothers, Pacific Gas & Electric, and PNM Resources.

They have joined Environmental Defense, the World Resources Institute, Pew Center on Global Climate Change, and Natural Resources Defense Council to form an unprecedented alliance — the United States Climate Action Partnership (US-CAP).

In today's announcement, the partners pledged to work together to support six recommendations for national action:

Account for the global dimensions of climate change – the U.S. government should become more involved in international agreements to fight global warming;

Recognize the importance of technology – the cost-effective deployment of existing energy efficient technologies should be a priority;

Be environmentally effective – establish a mandatory cap that guarantees emissions will be cut and other measures to facilitate reaching the needed targets;

Create economic opportunity and advantage – a climate protection program must use the power of the market to establish clear targets and timeframes;

Be fair – global warming solutions must account for the disproportionate impact of both global warming and emissions reductions on some economic sectors, geographic regions, and income groups; and

Encourage early action – prior to the effective date of mandatory pollution limits, every reasonable effort should be made to reduce emissions.
This unique cooperation of business and environmental leaders sends a clear signal to Congress: legislative action to cut America's global warming pollution is urgently needed.

Environmental Defense is thrilled to have played a role in building this unprecedented partnership and will look to take full advantage of the added momentum this brings to our efforts to pass meaningful global warming legislation this year.

For more on this announcement, go to our website.

Our work to fight global warming is made possible through the support of our dedicated members and online activists. I cannot thank you enough for your tremendous support.

I look forward to working with you as the 110th Congress begins to debate global warming and moves to enact the mandatory caps we need to cut emissions. This will be the test of this Congress on the top environmental priority of our generation.

Sincerely,

Fred Krupp
President

http://www.environmentaldefense.org/documents/5829_USCAPreport.pdf
A Call To Action

http://www.environmentaldefense.org/article.cfm?ContentID=5828
Announcement-Environmental Defense

[amitten]

1. WOW...that just made my day! Thanks for posting.

It's great to hear some good news on global warming.

[RestoreGore]

2. It sure is

And we all need to keep pushing them into doing what is morally right for this planet. They have gotten away with ignoring it for much too long at our peril.

[amitten]

3. I wonder what brought about the change.

There must have been a pretty significant catalyst...

[in_cog_ni_to]

4. They're all on C-SPAN 1 RIGHT NOW, if anyone is interested. n/t

[KansDem]

5. They had 12 years to do this...

The Dems take Congress and *wham*, it's Mandatory Limits time.

Don't get me wrong, I welcome this...I'm just frustrated that it took a change in Congress for these corporations to "see the light."

I expect we'll see all kinds of corporate change in the days ahead...just ahead of possible investigations and subsequent legislation...

[RestoreGore]

6. Oh, I agree with you

This should have happened years ago, and while I am hopeful of this news, I am skeptical still to see how far it really goes.