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On the Hunt for Clean Energy
Just a few years ago, big business in America put very little effort into slowing greenhouse gas emissions or investing in cleaner fuels. But now that’s beginning to change.
According to a report that grades 100 companies in the 10 most carbon-intensive sectors of American industry, a number of businesses are making substantial progress when it comes to addressing climate change. For example, Chevron now invests more than $100 million annually in low-carbon and carbon-free energy alternatives, the report found. It also credits Ford Motor Co. with introducing the first American-built hybrid SUV and General Electric with the launch of its “ecomagination” campaign and a pledge to double investments in climate-friendly technologies.
The report, produced by a group of investors and environmentalists known as Ceres (Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies) was produced for institutional investors and examines company performance in taking climate change into account with regard to board oversight, management execution, public disclosures, emissions accounting and strategic planning. Companies were graded on a 100-point scale, with the chemical sector scoring highest and the airline sector earning the lowest average scores.
The Ceres report notes that as recently as 2003, companies exercised a “virtually single-minded focus on oil and gas development.” It credits the recent shift in focus to reducing carbon dioxide and other emissions to the rapid shrinking of the polar ice caps and increased attention to record temperatures and damaging hurricanes.
A separate Ceres analysis, released on May 25, found that ExxonMobil significantly lagged behind its competitors in addressing climate change. The analysis notes that ExxonMobil finally concedes that global warming is real but fails to take meaningful steps to address this problem or to provide any leadership in the field of alternative energy sources.
For a copy of the 100-company report, click here.
For more information on Exxon/Mobil and its poor performance on global warming, click here.
To read more about this and other environmental health issues, go to: www.environmentalhealthnews.org, www.ourstolenfuture.org, or www.healthandenvironment.org
