arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

members: IBM; AT&T, Chevron, Shell, Coca-Cola, Texaco, Boeing, Lockheed, Exxon,...

Amsterdam - In a letter to Greenpeace yesterday, Coca Cola Spain stated that it fully backed the European government's support for the international climate change agreement - the Kyoto Protocol, an agreement US President Bush rejected six weeks ago today.

This action effectively set Coca Cola Spain in direct opposition to Coca Cola US, which belongs to an Exxon (Esso) led business group - the US Council for International Business (USCIB) - that is in public support of Bush's rejection of the international climate change agreement.

"This is the first clear signal that not all American multinationals agree with Bush, and are willing to put the clear will of their customers ahead of any pressure from the US administration and Exxon," said Greenpeace climate campaigner Steve Sawyer. "We will continue to pressure US companies and their subsidiaries worldwide to come clean on their stance on the global climate agreement."

http://www.ecoworld.com/Home/articles2.cfm?TID=289

In letters to Greenpeace, many US companies claim not to take a position on the Kyoto Protocol, but in fact reject the global climate agreement through their membership of the USCIB, which has strongly supported the Bush position.

"Companies cannot claim on the one hand to have no position, and on the other hide behind Exxon and the USCIB," said Sawyer. "If a company doesn't want to be associated with the destruction of the climate, the first thing they have to do is publicly support the Kyoto protocol."

In a related development, Ford yesterday took out a full-page advertisement in The Financial Times, claiming that it was unique for realising that "climate change is an issue that we must address". However, it is clear that Ford opposes real action via the global climate agreement, both in its correspondence with Greenpeace and by association with the USCIB.

"Companies, like Ford and other members of the USCIB, confirm by the advertising and marketing dollars spent that their consumers do care about the climate. But this is just a cynical public relations exercise until they finally waking up to the overwhelming public and political calls for serious action on the climate. Like Coca Cola, the first thing they must do is dissociate themselves from the USCIB, Bush, and publicly support the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol."

April 11, 2001
The Honorable George W. Bush
President of the United States of America
The White House
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

We welcome your Administration's timely initiative to conduct a formal interagency review of energy and climate change policies, in light of the resumption in July of negotiations under the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its Kyoto Protocol. We share your concern over the risks of climate change, and believe that the U.S. should move quickly to chart a farsighted path forward within the UNFCCC process that will avoid the Kyoto Protocol's unrealistic targets, timetables and lack of developing country participation.

We continue to support U.S. engagement in the UNFCCC process to demonstrate leadership by refocusing on the UNFCCC principles in order to devise a better way forward. Countries around the world are in the process of developing responses to climate change, and U.S. companies will be facing these measures. We therefore believe that developing an environmentally and economically sound U.S. government position that is action-oriented and reflects bottom line issues of domestic energy policy, competitiveness, trade, investment and technological innovation is of utmost importance in preparation for July's resumption of negotiations, formally known as the 6th Conference of the Parties (COP6 bis).

USCIB works to promote an open system of world trade, finance and investment in which business can flourish and contribute to economic growth, human welfare and protection of the environment. Representing some 300 U.S. companies, professional services firms and associations, it is the American affiliate of the International Chamber of Commerce, the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD and the International Organization of Employers. USCIB's Environment Committee and its Subcommittee on Climate Change work actively to communicate business views on climate questions to the U.S. Government, international organizations and foreign business communities.

USCIB believes that addressing the climate challenge will depend on a fully engaged business response on domestic and international fronts. U.S. businesses have already taken significant actions to reduce the potential climate impacts of their products and processes. To gain truly effective business participation, an inclusive economically efficient international framework, as well as balanced and reasonable domestic programs, should be developed with business as a partner. In the attached document, we propose elements of such a framework.

This international action-plan should focus on the long-term development, commercialization and global diffusion of advanced energy, carbon sequestration and adaptation technologies. It should take full advantage of appropriate and effective market incentives and mechanisms, rather than rigid, mandated caps, targets, timetables and command and control regulations. It should be flexible to respond to evolving science and technology.

We are well aware that launching such a process at COP6 bis will be challenging. Yet in spite of this, COP6 bis offers an opportunity to promote truly effective international cooperation to address the long-term greenhouse gas emissions challenge with minimal economic hardship, competitiveness concerns, trade tensions and higher energy costs. To do so, the Administration should:

consult with and involve government, academic, scientific, business and NGO experts with commercial, trade, investment, environmental, carbon sequestration and land-use expertise; continue to work closely with "umbrella group" countries and other cooperative nations; and consult and work with other cooperative Annex I countries.

USCIB is prepared to support your Administration's leadership and efforts to achieve a realistic, cost-effective solution to the climate change issue. USCIB members look forward to working with you and your Administration on both a long-term strategy and the immediate actions to ensure the success of that strategy.

Sincerely,

Thomas M.T. Niles
President

Cc:
The Honorable Colin Powell
The Honorable Paul O'Neill
The Honorable Robert B. Zoellick
The Honorable Gail Norton
The Honorable Spencer Abraham
The Honorable Christine Todd Whitman