The Business Case for the American Clean Energy and Security Act
June 24, 2009
Businesses
don't like uncertainty. When the rules of the road aren't clear, they
can't plan, can't figure out how best to deploy their capital, can't
determine what products to roll out, and can't specify the numbers and
types of workers to hire.
Give
them certainty, however, and businesses will find ways to make money,
build plants, develop new products, and most importantly for American
communities, create jobs.
Climate
change is real. Virtually all credible scientific evidence on hand
points to a strong link between greenhouse gas emissions and a changing
climate, which threatens many damaging spin-off impacts: longer, more
intense summer heat waves, smoggier air in our cities, and declining
water levels in the Great Lakes, to name a few examples.
Doing
nothing is not an option. The costs and risks of failing to limit
greenhouse gas emissions are too high. We owe it to our country and to
our country's future citizens to take action. The longer we wait, the
harder and costlier the job will be.
Businesses
will play a crucial role in developing the advanced technologies that
will tamp down greenhouse gas emissions, but they need a clear set of
rules of the road. Passing the American Clean Energy and Security Act,
as imperfect as it is, would give business leaders the certainty they
need to plan their companies' futures in a world with greenhouse gas
emissions limits.
With
a new environment will come new opportunities. As Chad Holliday, CEO of
DuPont, told a House committee earlier this year: "Federal legislation
will help create the marketplace that will drive innovation, economic
growth, and environmental progress."
DuPont
ought to know. In the 1980s, DuPont, a leading manufacturer of CFC
refrigeration chemicals, faced the reality that credible research had
linked its products to depletion of a protective ozone layer in the
upper atmosphere that shields us from harmful ultraviolet radiation.
Rather than deny the evidence or fight action to deal with the problem,
DuPont participated constructively in negotiations to craft the
Montreal Protocol, a global treaty to begin phasing CFCs out. As
Holliday told Congress recently, the treaty created a "predictable
pathway to change."
With
the rules clear, DuPont developed practical replacement products, which
resulted in new investments and new jobs. Today, DuPont is a thriving
company that adapts to change and remains one of America's leading
employers.
DuPont
didn't achieve its successful transition away from CFCs alone, however.
The company had help from President Ronald Reagan, who accepted the
science of ozone depletion, dismissed the scoffers in his party, and
ordered his diplomats to negotiate a strong treaty. The treaty wasn't
perfect, but it was a good start.
Reagan
took prudent action to protect Americans from a serious risk and gave
DuPont and other American businesses the certainty they needed to
succeed in a changing world.
Their
examples should inform our actions today. Congress should follow
Reagan's example and pass the American Clean Energy and Security Act.
Businesses will take it from there.
