Major Businesses and Environmental Organizations Join Call to Enact National Climate Change Legislation

The United States Climate Action Partnership (USCAP) announced today that it has doubled its membership to include AIG, Alcan, Boston Scientific, ConocoPhillips, Deere & Company, The Dow Chemical Company, General Motors Corp., Johnson & Johnson, Marsh, PepsiCo, Shell Oil and Siemens, along with The Nature Conservancy and the National Wildlife Federation.

The coalition, which continues to broaden and deepen its membership, brings together key sectors of the economy -- from energy, transportation, agriculture and technology to telecommunications, infrastructure and financial services -- with environmental and conservation leaders.

This diverse group of businesses and environmental organizations stands together in calling for the federal government to take immediate action to enact mandatory national legislation to achieve significant reductions of 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.

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 from a company'ss current stock price per share times the total number of shares outstanding.)

The non-governmental organizations have more than two million members worldwide, and represent America'ss environmental interests and its conservation traditions. The Nature Conservancy, known for its nonpartisan, science-based approach to policy issues, believes the climate crisis must be urgently addressed.

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'ss 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.

In January, USCAP issued a landmark set of principles and recommendations to underscore the urgent need for a policy framework on climate change . The solutions-based report, titled A Call for Action, laid out a blueprint for a mandatory economy-wide, market-driven approach to climate protection.

USCAP'ss recommendations are based on the following six principles:
* Account for the global dimensions of climate change ;
* Recognize the importance of technology;
* Be environmentally effective;
* Create economic opportunity and advantage;
* Be fair to sectors disproportionately impacted; and,
* Recognize and encourage early action.

These principles and recommendations are the result of a shared goal of slowing, stopping and reversing the growth of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over the shortest period of time reasonably achievable. Top executives from USCAP companies have driven this effort, and new members were chosen carefully to preserve a high-level consensus approach.

The non-partisan USCAP urges policy makers to enact a policy framework for mandatory reductions of GHG emissions from major emitting sectors, including large stationary sources and transportation, and energy use in commercial and residential buildings. The cornerstone of this approach would be a cap-and-trade program. The environmental goal is to reduce global atmospheric GHG concentrations to a level that minimizes large-scale adverse impacts to humans and the natural environment. The group recommends Congress provide leadership and establish short- and mid-term emission reduction targets; a national program to accelerate technology research, development and deployment; and approaches to encourage action by other countries, including those in the developing world, as ultimately the solution must be global.

The founding members of USCAP include Alcoa, BP America, Caterpillar, Duke Energy, DuPont, FPL Group, Inc., General Electric, PG&E, and PNM Resources, along with four leading non-governmental organizations - Environmental Defense, Natural Resources Defense Council, Pew Center on Global Climate Change and World Resources Institute.

Note to Editors
1) A full copy of A Call for Action and background information on the U.S. Climate Action Partnership may be found at www.us-cap.org.

2) The following CEOs are available to speak with the media; to arrange an interview, please refer to the attached contact information:

John Hofmeister, Shell Oil Company
Fred Krupp, Environmental Defense
Jonathan Lash, World Resources Institute (United States)
Steven J. McCormick, The Nature Conservancy
George Nolen, Siemens Corporation

NOTE: Beth Lowery, GM vice president, Environment and Energy, will also be available for press inquiries.

3) Use this link to review previous coverage of USCAP:

http://www.us-cap.org/media/inthenews.asp

Contact:
Steve Ertel
The Nature Conservancy
703-841-2652
www.nature.org

Major Businesses and Environmental Organizations Join Call to Enact National Climate Change Legislation

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Major Businesses and Environmental Organizations Join Call to Enact National Climate Change Legislation

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