Climate Action Partnership Now Three For (Big) Three

The United States Climate Action Partnership (USCAP) recently announced two new members -- the Chrysler Group and Ford Motor Company -- as part of its second expansion in less than six months. The group now includes 23 of the worlds largest corporations and six of the nations most respected non-governmental organizations.

Joining their Detroit automaking counterpart General Motors, the two new members fill out what is a broad cross-section of economic sectors represented by USCAP, bolstering its collective call for legislation leading to mandatory reductions of greenhouse gas emissions.

The expansion of the coalition will bring the total revenues of USCAP companies to over $1.9 trillion, with a total workforce of more than 2.3 million and operations in all 50 states and around the world.

In January, USCAP issued its solutions-based report, titled A Call for Action, that laid out a blueprint for an economy-wide, market driven cap-and-trade program. The recommendations embodied in the report are based on the following six key principles:

1. Account for the global dimensions of climate change;
2. Recognize the importance of technology;
3. Be environmentally effective;
4. Create economic opportunity and advantage;
5. Be fair to sectors disproportionately impacted; and,
6. Recognize and encourage early action.

USCAP has formed several working groups to build upon its recommendations in A Call for Action. USCAP has developed two policy statements, for example, to provide more details on its guidance related to energy efficiency and geologic carbon storage technologies. The policy papers offer Congress specific recommendations, and are available on the USCAP Web site at http://www.us-cap.org/policystatements/

According to USCAP, U.S. leadership is essential for establishing an equitable and effective international policy framework. The founding members of USCAP include Alcoa, BP America, Caterpillar, Duke Energy, DuPont, FPL Group, Inc., General Electric, PG&E and PNM Resources. Last month, 14 additional organizations joined the partnership: American International Group (AIG), Alcan, Boston Scientific, ConocoPhillips, Deere & Company, The Dow Chemical Company, General Motors Corp., Johnson & Johnson, Marsh, PepsiCo, Shell and Siemens.