U.S. businesses starting to see need for action on global warming
Feeling the heat on global warming, sentiment in U.S. business and industry is beginning to shift in favor of action to address carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping greenhouse gases.
U.S. companies already face restrictions on such emissions from their overseas operations as a result of the Kyoto Protocol, the 124-nation climate-change treaty that came into force this year.
At home, major corporations are under mounting pressure from shareholder activists who want companies to assess the financial risks posed by climate change and the likelihood of future restrictions on carbon emissions in the United States.
President Bush pulled the United States out of the Kyoto treaty and remains opposed to mandatory curbs on greenhouse gases, saying they are too expensive for the U.S. economy. But more than two dozen states have moved to fill in the void, adopting regulations and policies designed to discourage emissions or encourage the use of renewable energy.
There is also a sense that by delaying action, U.S. companies will be left behind in the competition for green energy and energy-efficient technologies, business leaders said.
"Some companies feel that if we don't act soon in the United States, we may be missing out on opportunities to innovate and to develop the technologies that will address these problems in the future," said Steve Percy, former chief executive officer of BP America.
"On top of that, I think there is a recognition on the part of some of these leading companies that public opinion is slowly beginning to shift on these issues," Percy said. "They want to be able to say in the future that they were progressive on this issue."
Big companies are also coming to the conclusion that reducing greenhouse-gas emissions by becoming more energy efficient "adds value to your business," said Mark Chatelain, energy and environment director at Johnson Controls of Milwaukee, a $27 billion-a-year auto-parts and energy-systems company that ranks 71st in the Fortune 500.
Cost savings usually accompany improvements in efficiency, "but there are intangibles as well, including customer satisfaction and a license to operate in a lot of countries where, if you had a bad reputation, you might not get work," said Chatelain, who heads a Johnson division that advises other companies on how to improve their energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. "It definitely adds to your reputation and brand image."
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U.S. businesses starting to see need for action on global warming
