Corporate Social Responsibility

US business and environmental campaigners unite on global warming

The US Climate Action Partnership (USCAP) has doubled its membership, welcoming a raft of major US companies including American International Group, Dow Chemical and General Motors (GM).

USCAP is a coalition of businesses and environmental organisations lobbying the federal government to quickly enact strong national legislation to require significant reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. These latest members bring total revenues of USCAP companies to $1.7trn.

Rick Wagoner, GM chairman and chief executive, emphasised the role technology can play in greenhouse gas reduction. He said: "A central element as we see it is energy diversity - being able to offer consumers vehicles that can be powered by many different energy sources and advanced propulsion systems to help displace petroleum and reduce greenhouse gas emissions".

Also joining is the coalition are environmental groups The Nature Conservancy and the National Wildlife Federation.

Larry Schweiger, National Wildlife Federation chief executive, called USCAP the latest display of the importance global warming has come to have in mainstream America. Schweiger argued that the responsibility US corporate leaders owe to shareholders, employees and customers means they cannot afford to make any decision on the future of their businesses through "any partisan ideological lens".

June 2007