White House Ignoring Big Business Push For Mandatory Carbon Caps

onNov 30, 2007 @ 10:51 PST

For a while now, major corporations have been pushing for mandatory greenhouse gas emission caps from the US government.

Big business understands the inevitability of having to deal with the global warming issue and the sooner they can see a strong economic signal from government, the sooner they can get on with tackling the issue on a level playing field.

Today, big business has kicked that demand way up.

In a two-page ad in the Financial Times, 150 multinational corporations, including Coca-Cola, General Electric, Shell, Nestlé, Nike, DuPont, Johnson & Johnson, British Airways and Shanghai Electric, have issued a statement calling for a legally binding and mandatory cap on worldwide greenhouse gas emissions.

The statement reads in part, that the scientific evidence for climate change is “now overwhelming” and that a legally binding agreement “will provide business with the certainty it needs to scale up global investment in low-carbon technologies.”

But the supposedly “business-friendly” Republican White House clings to what they like to call “aspirational targets” on greenhouse gas emission reductions.

“Apsirational” isn’t even a real word, but is sure is good PR spin.

The White House head of the Council on Environmental Quality, James Connaughton said yesterday that the Bush administration, “is committed to reducing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, even though it opposes a mandatory, economy-wide carbon cap.”

So if the White House is committed to reducing GHG emissions, why then would they be worried about mandatory caps? Especially if business is asking for them.

Even oil giant, Shell, is demanding mandatory caps. James Smith, chairman of Shell UK, stated that mandatory and legally binding caps on greenhouse gas, “give business the confidence to make those long-term investments in lower-carbon technologies.”

Next week in Bali, while the rest of the world meets to discuss mandatory greenhouse gas emissions at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the US will find itself isolated as the lone holdout (except Canada) among nations.

Now it appears that their former close allies in big business won’t even be there to back them up.

By Kevin Grandia

Kevin is a contributor and strategic adviser to DeSmogBlog.

He runs the digital marketing agency Spake Media House. Named a “Green Hero” by Rolling Stone Magazine and one of the “Top 50 Tweeters” on climate change and environment issues, Kevin has appeared in major news media outlets around the world for his work on digital campaigning.

Kevin has been involved in the public policy arena in both the United States and Canada for more than a decade. For five years he was the managing editor of DeSmogBlog.com. In this role, Kevin’s research into the “climate denial industry” and the right-wing think tank networks was featured in news media articles around the world. He is most well known for his ground-breaking research into David and Charles Koch’s massive financial investments in the Republican and tea party networks.

Kevin is the first person to be designated a “Certified Expert” on the political and community organizing platform NationBuilder.

Prior to DeSmogBlog, Kevin worked in various political and government roles. He was Senior Advisor to the Minister of State for Multiculturalism and a Special Assistant to the Minister of State for Asia Pacific, Foreign Affairs for the Government of Canada. Kevin also worked in various roles in the British Columbia provincial government in the Office of the Premier and the Ministry of Health.

In 2008 Kevin co-founded a groundbreaking new online election tool called Vote for Environment which was later nominated for a World Summit Award in recognition of the world’s best e-Content and innovative ICT applications.

Kevin moved to Washington, DC in 2010 where he worked for two years as the Director of Online Strategy for Greenpeace USA and has since returned to his hometown of Vancouver, Canada.