GM joins other companies in climate action groupPartnership seeks pollution restrictio

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Bloomberg NewsPublished May 9, 2007
DETROIT -- General Motors Corp. on Tuesday became the first U.S. automaker to join a coalition of companies calling on Congress and President Bush to support a mandatory nationwide cap on global-warming pollution.The carmaker joins companies such as General Electric Co. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in the U.S. Climate Action Partnership formed in January.The group's members, in a bid to combat climate change and profit from the sale of new "clean" technologies, seek to cut carbon dioxide emissions by as much as 30 percent within 15 years."GM views the need to promote energy security and reduce greenhouse gas emissions as both a business necessity and an obligation to society," GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner said Tuesday.The automaker, though, is at odds with at least one of the group's recommendations for curbing greenhouse gases: the tightening of fuel-economy requirements for U.S. vehicles. GM has resisted efforts in Congress to raise the standards, which could threaten profits from the light trucks that make up 60 percent of GM's U.S. sales.GM said it considers the development and use of alternative fuels and electric cars as a more effective solution to global warming than higher fuel-economy standards.John DeCicco, an automobile policy specialist at the advocacy group Environmental Defense, a member of the coalition, said he doesn't see the differing views as a problem.GM's move "represents a collective commitment to working together to find a solution that works for everyone," he said. "Our goal is carbon reduction and protecting the planet. We aren't wedded to preconceived ways of getting the job done."GM is among a dozen companies to join the partnership since it was unveiled Jan. 22.They include PepsiCo Inc., the maker of Frito's chips and Mountain Dew soda; Dow Chemical Co., the nation's largest chemical-maker; Johnson & Johnson, the world's biggest health-care products company; and the U.S. arm of Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Europe's largest publicly traded oil company.The new members give the partnership a total of 22 companies, including some of the biggest U.S. power producers.The group proposes to curb greenhouse gases through a cap-and-trade system in which companies would buy and sell carbon credits. Bush opposes mandatory carbon limits, arguing that they would harm the economy.

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