Several fossil fuel interests are here at the United Nations climate
negotiations, putting on their best public face in support of reducing
carbon emissions. Despite the lofty rhetoric, with some pledging to lead
the way in reducing carbon pollution, the same corporate actors are
also fueling efforts to block any substantive reforms.
It’s
been called the “Jekyll and Hyde Approach to Climate Change.” In other
words, businesses are boosting their brand by appearing to support
climate reforms, while working to block policies to achieve these goals
at very same time.
Republic Report talked to several
corporate lobbyists and business representatives at the summit this week
about their ties to pressure groups working to block action on carbon
reduction in the United States.
The Edison Electric Institute, a
lobbying group that represents utility companies, many of which rely on
coal-based power plants, is indicative of this approach. The group
claims that it is “committed to addressing the challenge of climate
change” and says its member companies, including American Electric
Power, Duke Energy, Xcel Energy, and others, “have undertaken a wide
range of initiatives over the last 30 years to reduce, avoid or
sequester GHG emissions.”
But EEI doesn’t just support both sides
of the aisle, they support both sides of the moral spectrum on climate
change. Brian Wolff, the executive vice president of the group, told us
that his organization is a dues-paying member of the American
Legislative Exchange Council, a group that recently released a slew of
anti-environmental template legislation to express support for
abolishing the EPA, delaying greenhouse gas-related regulations, and
undercut the federal government’s ability to enforce climate change
rules, including on power plants.
“There are benefits of having
stakeholder engagement,” Wolff contends. “We’re involved with many
Republican, Democrat organizations,” said Wolff at an event in Lima
sponsored by the European Union pavilion. Wolff told us that he sent a
staffer to a recent ALEC conference to see “what is going on there and
the action coming up,” but said he could not recall if his
representative voted to approve ALEC’s new bills focused on climate
change.
Shell Oil plays from a similar script. Shell,
also a member of ALEC, was revealed recently in a
Bloomberg News investigation to be a donor to a campaign in California to attack the state’s landmark climate law, AB32.
Read more: The fossil fuel industry’s Jekyll-and-Hyde trick: Back climate reforms while quietly financing lobby to kill them - Salon.com
