Texas’ largest electric utility last night tentatively approved a record $45 billion takeover bid by two private equity firms in a deal hailed by environmentalists as a major turning point in the battle against global warming. The prospective owners of the TXU Corp. have told environmental groups that they would cancel eight of 11 coal plants proposed by the company and also back national legislation for mandatory reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.
Corporate pledges to fight deforestation by turning degraded pasture into cropland seen boosting demand for harmful chemical inputs.
As the New York-based firm was preparing to work on the climate summit, it was also pushing for Brazilian oil and gas distributor Vibra Energia to help power it.
Trade groups lobbied ministers to promote a source of energy linked to massive environmental harms at the U.N. climate conference.
Agribusiness companies generate huge quantities of greenhouse gas pollution โ and PR companies help them obscure it.
