U.S. Climate Action Partnership Doubles Membership; General Motors Signs On to Fight Global Warming

The United States Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), a unusual coalition of U.S. industry and environmental leaders set on reducing global warming by lowering greenhouse gas emissions through federal legislation, has doubled its membership by adding 12 new industry and two new environmental members.

_{Photo courtesy of NASA}

Founded in January 2007, USCAP represents a cross-section of American industry that includes automaker General Motors, Shell Oil, Johnson & Johnson, General Electric, Alcoa, DuPont, Duke Energy, and other leading companies. The addition of General Motors is seen by many observers as particularly significant, because trucks and automobiles account for roughly 20 percent of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

“GM is very pleased to join USCAP to proactively address the concerns posed by climate change and applauds its members for recognizing the important role that technology can play in achieving an economy-wide solution,” said Rick Wagoner, chairman and CEO of General Motors. “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.”

USCAP also includes leading several leading environmental and non-governmental groups such as the National Resources Defense Council, Environmental Defense, the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, the World Resources Institute and the two new members from this sector: The Nature Conservancy and the National Wildlife Federation.

“Climate change will be the biggest threat by far to our mission of protecting nature and to the many investments in lands and waters we have made over the past 60 years,” said Steve McCormick, president and CEO of The Nature Conservancy. “One of The Nature Conservancy’s goals is to ensure that the important role intact forests and other ecosystems play in mitigating climate change is recognized as a vital part of any policy framework developed to address this critical challenge.”

USCAP Urges Congress to Cap Greenhouse Gas Emissions
USCAP is calling on the U.S. government to take immediate action to enact mandatory national legislation that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions 60 percent to 80 percent from current levels by 2050. USCAP believes that a market-driven approach to the problem of global warming, which combines a mandatory cap on greenhouse gas emissions with incentives to stimulate investment and innovation, “will create more economic opportunities than risks for the U.S. economy.”

"With this lineup of companies and environmental groups endorsing it, a carbon cap is clearly the consensus solution to climate change,” said Fred Krupp, president of Environmental Defense. "With cap and trade, we’ve found the center environmental groups and businesses can embrace because it guarantees results for the climate while freeing companies to hunt for innovative, least-cost ways to lower emissions.”

USCAP’s new industry members include:

• American International Group (AIG)
• Alcan
• Boston Scientific
• ConocoPhillips
• Deere & Company
• The Dow Chemical Company
• General Motors Corp.
• Johnson & Johnson
• Marsh
• PepsiCo
• Shell
• Siemens

The two new environmental members of USCAP are:

• The Nature Conservancy
• National Wildlife Federation

The 14 new members of USCAP now join the founding members:

• Alcoa
• BP America
• Caterpillar
• Duke Energy
• DuPont
• FPL Group, Inc.
• General Electric
• PG&E
• PNM Resources
• Environmental Defense
• Natural Resources Defense Council
• Pew Center on Global Climate Change
• World Resources Institute

USCAP Members Wield Political and Economic Influence With its new members, USCAP companies now have total revenues of $1.7 trillion, a collective workforce of more than 2 million and operations in all 50 states; they also have a combined market capitalization of more than $1.9 trillion. (Market capitalization, or market cap, is derived by multiplying a company’s current stock price per share times the total number of shares outstanding.)

The non-governmental organizations in USCAP, which have more than two million members worldwide, say they represent America’s environmental interests and conservation traditions.

Also read:

• U.S. Climate Action Partnership: A Coalition for Change
• An Interview with Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers
• Serious Effects of Global Warming Have Already Begun
• Global Warming is Unstoppable and Humans are to Blame
• A Call for Action [pdf] -- (U.S. Climate Action Partnership)