Climate Action Partnership

The U.S. Climate Action Partnership (CAP) is a coalition of major corporations and other organizations including Alcoa Inc., General Electric Co., DuPont Co., Duke Energy Corp., Caterpillar, PG&E, the FPL Group, PNM Resources, BP, Lehman Brothersand PEW Center on Global Climate Change. Reuters reported January 19, 2007. In May 2007, automobile maker General Motors joined the group, along with insurance company AIG, Alcan, Dow Chemical, Deere & Co., Johnson & Johnson, PepsiCo and Shell. 

CAP was identified in the online publication ClimateBiz as "a program of Environmental Defense and numerous collaborating companies." CPA's stated URL www.pca-online.org is inactive. 

CAP has been criticised for greenwashing, as many of the corporations which are members of CAP are also working behind the scenes to undermine greenhouse-gas regulation. For example, USCAP members General Electric and Caterpillar have seats on the board of a group called the Center for Energy and Economic Development, which opposes greenhouse-gas regulations. USCAP member Duke Energy has joined notorious coal-lobbying group Americans for Balanced Energy Choices. Eight USCAP members sit on the board of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which is critical of attempts to reduce carbon; And the chamber vice president of environment says no board members have pressured the chamber to change its position. Says David Hawkins of green group and USCAP member NRDC, "We do expect them to exert pressure on other organizations." 

CAP as good PR
CAP is headed by Lance Morgan, the "Chief Communications Specialist at the Interpublic group," a communications conglomerate with lobbying, PR and marketing arms, according to O'Dwyer's PR Report (February 2007).

The trade publication also reported that "Powell Tate | Weber Shandwick ... is working with the newly formed United States Climate Action Partnership." CAP's goal, according to O'Dwyer's, is to have "input on any global warming legislation that is forged by the new Democratic Congress."

U.S.-Australia Climate Action Partnership
The establishment of the U.S.-Australia Climate Action Partnership was announced February 27, 2002, by the governments of the United States and Australia "following meetings on climate change" held in Washington, D. C., "between Dr. David Kemp, Australian Minister for the Environment and Heritage", and "several senior members" of the Bush administration, including U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Todd Whitman; James Connaughton, Chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality; Frances Blake, Deputy Secretary of Energy; and Paula Dobriansky, Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs. Partnership participants included the EPA, the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Department of State and their Australian counterparts."

Contact details
USCAP C/O Meridian Institute 1920 L Street, N.W., Suite 500 Washington, D.C. 20036 Web: http://www.us-cap.org

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Climate change
 * COP15
 * Copenhagen Climate Council
 * Global warming
 * Greenwashing
 * Kyoto Protocol
 * PEW Center on Global Climate Change
 * World Business Summit on Climate Change

External articles

 * "Companies press Bush, Congress on climate: reports," Reuters (Washington Post), January 19, 2007.
 * Nicholas Varchaver, "Chemical reaction: From gunpowder to polymers, DuPont has survived by adapting. Now the company is in the midst of its most audacious transformation. The goal: to improve the environment and make a fortune doing it," Fortune, March 22, 2007.
 * Timothy Gardner, "GM First Automaker to Join US Carbon Cap Group," Reuters, May 9, 2007.
 * Renee Schoof, "Businesses want a say in global-warming bill," McClatchy Newspapers, January 21, 2008.
 * Ben Elgin, Green—Up to a Point, BusinessWeek, February 20, 2008.
 * "Climate Action Partnership Gives 'Blueprint' to Greenhouse Gas Policy," ClimateBiz.com, January 16, 2009.