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USCAP, Icecap, We All Cap for USCAP

It’s clearly better to drive a speeding train than be hit by one — which may explain why ten major US companies joined four environmental groups yesterday to call for a federally imposed mandatory cap on global-warming emissions. Uniting as the US Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), the group announced its commitment to "a pathway that […]

It's clearly better to drive a speeding train than be hit by one — which may explain why ten major US companies joined four environmental groups yesterday to call for a federally imposed mandatory cap on global-warming emissions.

Uniting as the US Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), the group announced its commitment to "a pathway that will slow, stop, and reverse the growth of US emissions while expanding the US economy." And despite the USCAP site's frequent tributes to the ka-ching deity, the views expressed there are hardly calculated to warm hearts in the just-say-no-to-Kyoto White House:

In June 2005, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences joined with the scientific academies of ten other countries in stating that "the scientific understanding of climate change is now sufficiently clear to justify nations taking prompt actions."

Each year we delay action to control emissions increases the risk of unavoidable consequences that could necessitate even steeper reductions in the future, at potentially greater economic cost and social disruption. Action sooner rather than later preserves valuable response options, narrows the uncertainties associated with changes to the climate, and should lower the costs of mitigation and adaptation.

A list of USCAP's charter members — along with some of the group's recommendations — appears after the flip.

USCAP's founders "call on the federal government to quickly enact strong national legislation to require significant reductions of greenhouse gas emissions." They include:

  • Alcoa
  • BP America
  • Caterpillar Inc.
  • Duke Energy
  • DuPont
  • Environmental Defense
  • FPL Group
  • General Electric
  • Lehman Brothers
  • Natural Resources Defense Council
  • Pew Center on Global Climate Change
  • PG&E Corporation
  • PNM Resources
  • World Resources Institute

Among their proposals:

  • That Congress establish a long-term "target zone" for reducing greenhouse emissions, cutting them from 60 to 80 percent below current levels by 2050

  • Keeping emissions to between 100 and 105 percent of current levels within five years of "rapid enactment"

  • Reducing emissions to between 90 and 100 percent of current levels within 10 years of enactment

  • Reducing emissions to between 70 and 90 percent of current levels within 15 years of enactment