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Business Pressure Paying Off on Climate Policy

July 25, 2007

Heard tell that the White House is exploring climate change policy ideas including—insert denial lobby’s horrified gasp here—caps on greenhouse gas emissions.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson—a green star in President Bush’s Cabinet—is weighing various congressional proposals for carbon dioxide emissions caps.

It’s too early to say whether this effort represents a looming turnaround, but it’s a sign that business community pressure for a national climate policy is starting to pay off.

The White House can safely ignore Al Gore and liberal-leaning enviros. It can’t lightly blow off the CEOs of General Electric, Dow Chemical, Ford, and other leading U.S. corporations that are openly calling for an economy-wide climate policy that harnesses market forces to drive investments in cleaner technologies.

The pressure from the business community will only get stronger. The U.S. Climate Action Partnership, an alliance of corporations and national conservation organizations lobbying for cap-and-trade legislation, has grown to 31 members with a combined market capitalization exceeding $2 trillion. They want regulatory certainty and economic opportunity, and they want it now.

The administration also is feeling heat from overseas allies. Take, for example, France’s new president, Nicolas Sarkozy. Unlike his cranky predecessor, Sarkozy is a market-oriented conservative who genuinely admires the United States. Yet Sarkozy has spoken up forcefully about fighting climate change, and on the day of his election, reminded his American friends that the U.S. must lead that fight.

The climate debate is moving past pathetic attempts to impeach the science and tired arguments about Kyoto, which will be a dead letter in five years. Over the next year or so, on national and international levels, the federal government will have multiple opportunities to play constructively in the post-Kyoto climate policy game.

The job of CEOs and overseas friends alike is to keep prodding the slow-moving beast by the Potomac.