CEOs Urge Clarity In Emissions Pact

By GUY CHAZAN

COPENHAGEN -- Chiefs of some of the world's largest companies are urging global leaders to cut a strong deal this December to curb pollution, saying they need certainty on emissions targets to be able to make long-term investment decisions.

The World Business Summit on Climate Change, which brought together more than 500 business leaders, is being seen as a crucial milestone on the road to December's meeting here, at which governments will try to hammer out a successor agreement to the United Nations' Kyoto Protocol. Many of them said a global deal would provide the regulatory certainty and price signals they need to invest in renewable fuels and low-carbon technologies.
Business leaders said they were working on a draft statement that would call for emissions to be cut by at least 50% by 2050, an ambitious target also endorsed by the U.N.
In a speech to the summit Sunday, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said that only a few businesses had made climate change a priority, with most sitting on the fence and others defending "the old order." "For those who are directly or implicitly lobbying against climate action, I have a clear message: Your ideas are out-of-date and you are running out of time," he told delegates.
In some respects, the meeting served to highlight the divisions in international business over climate change. Some companies have argued that setting deep emissions-reduction targets in the midst of an economic slowdown could jeopardize recovery.
Such views are particularly prominent in the U.S., which has signed but not ratified the Kyoto Protocol, adopted in 1997. The pact doesn't require developing countries to cut emissions. The U.S. and China are the world's biggest generators of greenhouse gases, accounting for nearly half of all pollutants each year. Neither has been willing to cut emissions without a similar commitment by the other. Agreement between the two nations is seen as critical for reaching a new global climate treaty in Copenhagen that sticks.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has come out against moves to curb emissions, in particular the Waxman-Markey bill now making its way through Congress, saying it will cost U.S. jobs and lead to higher energy prices for consumers. Oil and gas producers and manufacturing companies have been at the forefront of opposition to the legislation, which would create a system to cap CO2 emissions and trade emission allowances.
Yet Johnson & Johnson and Nike Inc. have distanced themselves from the chamber, saying it doesn't reflect the range of views of its members on climate change.
Many CEOs speaking in Copenhagen -- who included heads of companies like PepsiCo Inc. and Unilever PLC -- said they were committed to greening their companies and reducing their carbon footprints.
Speakers said a new deal with global targets will be crucial in creating a level playing field, especially for energy-intensive industries. Failure, they warned, lead to a free-for-all and "green protectionism" -- where industries in countries with tough rules would lose out to rivals in countries with less strict policies.
Write to Guy Chazan at guy.chazan@wsj.com