aberrant85
Well-known member
- Joined
- Aug 30, 2013
- Messages
- 594
- Reaction score
- 209
- Location
- SF Bay Area
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Liberal
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/05/b...anies-prepared-to-pay-price-on-carbon.html?hp
What does this mean? Does this suggest that big business is moving away from its Republican ties, or that climate change will eventually become accepted within the GOP? Is this simply companies engaging in rational self interest, preparing for the future that is inevitably coming?
Personally I welcome this attitude.
WASHINGTON — More than two dozen of the nation’s biggest corporations, including the five major oil companies, are planning their future growth on the expectation that the government will force them to pay a price for carbon pollution as a way to control global warming.
The development is a striking departure from conservative orthodoxy and a reflection of growing divisions between the Republican Party and its business supporters.
A new report by the environmental data company CDP has found that at least 29 companies, some with close ties to Republicans, including ExxonMobil, Walmart and American Electric Power, are incorporating a price on carbon into their long-term financial plans.
Both supporters and opponents of action to fight global warming say the development is significant because businesses that chart a financial course to make money in a carbon-constrained future could be more inclined to support policies that address climate change.
But unlike the five big oil companies — ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, Chevron, BP and Shell, all major contributors to the Republican party — Koch Industries, a conglomerate that has played a major role in pushing Republicans away from action on climate change, is ramping up an already-aggressive campaign against climate policy — specifically against any tax or price on carbon. Owned by the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, the company includes oil refiners and the paper-goods company Georgia-Pacific.
What does this mean? Does this suggest that big business is moving away from its Republican ties, or that climate change will eventually become accepted within the GOP? Is this simply companies engaging in rational self interest, preparing for the future that is inevitably coming?
Personally I welcome this attitude.