(Embargoed for release at 2 p.m. EST/1900 GMT)
By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent
WASHINGTON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - U.S. business leaders
including the troubled Big Three automakers offered a
prescription on Tuesday for economic recovery and job creation:
cap the carbon emissions that spur global warming.
"The twin dynamics that are going to inform our industry
for the next 20 or 30 years are climate change and
sustainability," David Crane, CEO of NRG Energy Inc., said in
an interview before the group's official announcement. "Climate
change actually represents an area where U.S. business could be
ahead of the curve instead of behind the curve."
Crane is among the leaders of 26 corporations and six
environmental groups that make up the U.S. Climate Action
Partnership, which since 2007 has pushed for a cap-and-trade
system in the United States in line with the Kyoto Protocol,
which imposes emissions limits internationally.
The climate partnership, known as USCAP, wants reductions
in greenhouse gas emissions that are 60 percent to 80 percent
below current levels by 2050, a goal that is in line with what
President-elect Barack Obama supports.
Crane and others in the group recognize the pressure the
global financial crisis could put on any carbon-cutting plan.
While politicians, business leaders and the American public
all have indicated they want a cap-and-trade plan, Crane said,
"If you say it'll have a highly destructive impact on the
economy, jobs will be lost, people won't be able to put food on
the table, the support for it's going to go way down."
Eileen Claussen, president of the Pew Center on Climate
Change, a member of USCAP, said the financial slump could
actually provide impetus to go forward with a carbon-capping
law. Many companies see green investment as a way out of the
problem, she said by telephone.
ECONOMIC DOWNTURN IS A REASON TO GO GREEN
"Some of the things you would have to do under climate
legislation -- becoming more efficient, putting significant
dollars into new technology investments and new infrastructure
-- are all job-creation tools and revenue-producing tools,"
Claussen said.
"So rather than viewing the economic downturn as a reason
not to do this, many in the business community are viewing this
as a reason to do this," she said.
USCAP also include Alcoa, AIG, Boston Scientific, BP
America, Caterpillar, ConocoPhillips, Chrysler, John Deere,
Dow, Duke Energy, DuPont, Environmental Defense Fund, Exelon,
Ford, FPL Group, GE, GM, Johnson & Johnson, Marsh, National
Wildlife Federation, Natural Resources Defense Council, The
Nature Conservancy, PepsiCo, PG&E, PNM Resources, Rio Tinto,
Shell, Siemens, World Resources Institute and Xerox.
The United States is alone among major industrialized
nations in rejecting the Kyoto pact, which the Bush
administration maintains gives an unfair economic advantage to
fast-growing economies like China and India.
Legislation that would have set up a cap-and-trade system
failed to pass in the U.S. Senate this year, and it is doubtful
that this kind of measure would become law in 2009, even though
Obama favors it.
A cap-and-trade system puts a limit and a price on carbon
emissions, which come from coal-fired power plants and
fossil-fueled vehicles, among other human activities and
natural sources. Companies that emit excessive amounts of
carbon could buy credits from those that emit less.
In a separate announcement on Tuesday, Edison Electric
Institute, an association of publicly traded electric
companies, and the environmental group Natural Resources
Defense Council called on U.S. state officials to encourage
electric utilities to be more energy efficient.
"Energy efficiency needs to be a true business proposition,
wherein utilities don't just recover costs but have the
incentive for delivering energy efficiency products and
services similar to incentives for new infrastructure
development," Edison's David Owens said in a statement.
(Editing by Doina Chiacu)
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