Breakthrough Climate Policy Statement

Businesses face an increasing range of challenges they will not be able to address, if steps are not taken to enact policies at the scale and urgency of the problem we face. Consider these factors:

• The longer we delay, the more time—and money—it will take to mitigate the effects of climate change.
• Businesses cannot afford to embrace, through inaction, a future we cannot readily endure.
• While many businesses are addressing climate change in their own way, they are not aligned, nor are they acting at the scale required to avert catastrophic climate change.
• Only collective action at scale will keep us from crossing the threshold into an incredibly dangerous and unstable future. This requires enacting climate policies.

Leadership on climate is not only a moral imperative, but also addresses real business risks and opportunities. Active engagement in support of responsible climate policies—consistent with the latest science—lies at the heart of this leadership. We are overdue for a breakthrough. Corporate leaders must now act according to climate science and press policymakers to take immediate action to reduce GHG emissions.

Public Policy Required for Climate Stabilization

Warming of 2°C above pre-industrial levels is widely considered the heat limit to avert the most dangerous effects of runaway climate change and the risk of irreversible tipping points. Our present carbon emissions pathway puts us on a course to more than double the internationally agreed limit.  Climate stabilization under the international consensus 2°C threshold agreed to in the Copenhagen Accord is the ultimate and necessary goal.

The US must adopt policies to capture the price of GHGs, accelerate and expand investment in clean energy, and transform our infrastructure. These complimentary measures are needed to help reduce GHG emissions and quickly drive investment away from carbon-intensive practices, towards a clean and efficient energy future:

1.  Price greenhouse gas pollution.  This is the single most powerful mechanism we have to drive broad-based emissions reductions to confront the threat of global warming.

2.  Remove fossil fuel subsidies.  These policies are driving the world toward dangerous climate change, distorting the market, and impeding the shift towards clean and efficient energy.

3.  Invest in the conversion to a clean, efficient, and resilient infrastructure. We must immediately fund the modernization of our infrastructure, transitioning away from our old, inefficient, and carbon-intensive system.

Speak Out and Lend Your Voice to Urgent Action at Scale

We are calling on business executives to personally sign on to this Breakthrough Climate Policy Statement, and help engage other executives to sign on to this Statement. Your support is crucial for the success of a broad-scale climate stabilization campaign.