Costs of climate change spur greening of business

While increasing numbers of corporations have signed on to such green business groups as the US Climate Action Partnership, they're also keen to influence whatever legislation Congress might enact to limit greenhouse-gas emissions, reports McClatchy Newspapers.

" 'In the last year there's been a sea change' in business thinking on a mandatory federal emissions policy, said Truman Semans, the director for marketing and business strategy for a group of large U.S. companies at the Pew Center on Global Climate Change's Business Environmental Leadership Council. The council comprises 44 companies with $2.8 trillion in market capitalization, a sizable chunk of the world economy. Most favor a mandatory market-based emissions policy, Semans said."

But changes in the business landscape due to climate change can also cause international rifts. The US this week warned the European Union against using climate change as a pretext for protectionism. The International Herald Tribune reports:

"The pointed comments by the U.S. trade representative, Susan Schwab, after talks in Brussels, came just two days before the European Commission introduced its proposals for cutting EU emissions at least 20 percent from 1990 levels by 2020. 'We have been dismayed at a variety of suggestions where we have seen the climate and the environment being used as an excuse to close markets,' Schwab said."

Even the greenest of national leaders, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, finds balancing environmental and industrial policy a difficult task. Der Spiegel reports:

"The issues she faces are no less momentous than the transformation of industrial society, billions in investments, jobs and vast amounts of carbon dioxide. These are the elements of a debate that will decide the future of the 'climate chancellor' and everyone involved knows that the real struggle is just beginning."

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