Low Carbon USA | World Wildlife Fund

Businesses Call for Paris Climate Action

With UN negotiators closing in on finalizing a global climate agreement at the Paris climate talks, more than 100 leading companies signed on to a full-page advertisement in the December 1, 2015 Wall Street Journal calling for the US economy to shift to a low-carbon future.

Through the ad, these leading businesses recognized that climate change poses a risk to America’s economic prosperity and urged our government to take action to address that risk. They saw themselves as one part of the solution to climate change, and recognized they can’t tackle the problem alone -- they needed governments around the world to act in unison.

Their support of climate action in front of their investors, competitors, suppliers, customers, and peers demonstrated to the entire business community that the US needs to transition to a low-carbon future.

We are some of the businesses that will help create the future economy of the United States.

We want this economy to be energy efficient and low carbon. We believe there are cost-effective and innovative solutions that can help us achieve that objective. Failure to tackle climate change could put America’s economic prosperity at risk. But the right action now would create jobs and boost competitiveness.

We encourage our government to

1
Seek a strong and fair global climate deal in Paris that provides long-term direction and periodic strengthening to keep global temperature rise below 2°C
2
Support action to reduce U.S. emissions that achieves or exceeds national commitments and increases ambition in the future
3
Support investment in the low-carbon economy at home and abroad, giving industry clarity and boosting the confidence of investors

We pledge to continue efforts to ensure a just transition to a low-carbon, energy efficient U.S. economy and look forward to enabling strong ambition in the U.S. and at the Paris climate change conference.

Leading Executives are Calling for a Low Carbon USA

“In Aspen there are 30 more frost free days than in 1980. 6.1 million outdoor industry employees depend on a stable climate for their livelihoods and the industry contributes $65 billion annually to our economy. Mountain communities around the world have dedicated their lives to winter and letting it melt away is a travesty for current and future generations. That’s why we’re asking for a strong deal in Paris.”
Mike Kaplan, Aspen Skiing Company, President and CEO

“I’m encouraged that today when I look at building or infrastructure projects or even consumer products, environmental considerations are built into the design criteria. At Autodesk, we strive to help our customers to reduce the impact of their design projects. While the magnitude of climate change requires the efforts of businesses and governments alike, I am optimistic that corporations like Autodesk, investors, and governments will take bold action to mitigate an adapt to climate change to ensure an energy efficient future.”
Amar Hanspal, Autodesk, Senior Vice President, Products

“Businesses, in partnership with governments, non-governmental organizations and others, have an important role to play in shaping a low-carbon future. Taking strategic action to mitigate climate change is good for our clients, our investors, our people and our world.”
Karen B. Peetz, BNY Mellon, President

“At Coca-Cola, we are deeply committed to doing our part to address our collective environmental challenges and responsibly manage the planet’s resources. As we face a resource-stressed world with growing global demands on food and water, we must seek solutions that drive mutual benefit for business, communities and nature. Companies who successfully balance social, environmental and economic values create the golden triangle and hence will be sustainably successful in the 21st century.”
Muhtar Kent, The Coca-Cola Company, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer

“Colgate cares about people and the environment. Our science-based greenhouse gas reduction goal allows us to sustain our business and the planet for generations to come.”
Justin Skala, Colgate-Palmolive Company, President North America and Global Sustainability

“The business community has a critical role to play in developing and commercializing the technologies and solutions that will enable the transition to a low-carbon economy. It is important for the growth of the U.S. economy that we lead the way in this transition.”
Linda Fisher, Dupont, Chief Sustainability Officer

“As a global food company, we recognize the significant impacts climate change can have on our business if left unaddressed. That’s why we are taking action across our value chain. However, we understand that no one company, industry or government will mitigate climate change. It is an urgent and shared global challenge. Real progress toward more sustainable emission levels will require unprecedented collaboration and collective innovation.”
Ken Powell, General Mills, Chairman and CEO

“Decisive action to address climate change is required from all of us to create a healthier world that can support the lives and livelihoods of our current population and the generations to come. We must reinvent how we do business to drive a new, low-carbon economy. At HP, we believe that sustainability ignites innovation. When companies like ours lower carbon emissions across our technology portfolios, operations, and value chains, we create a brighter future for everyone, everywhere.”
Dion Weisler, HP Inc, President and Chief Executive Officer

“IKEA is pleased to join with other leading members of the U.S. business community in calling for bold action and a positive outcome from policymakers at COP21 in Paris. We believe that we can have a low-carbon and prosperous economy that will promote sustainable economic growth, good public health and resilience to natural disasters.”
Lars Petersson, IKEA, U.S. President

“Over the last decade, L’Oreal USA has been persistent in reducing its carbon emissions and just recently announced that we will become a ‘carbon-balanced’ company by 2020. Supporting COP21 is just another step in our strategy to promote public policy to mitigate the risks of climate change and encourages the transition to a low-carbon economy, which we believe can only be achieved if business and government work together to develop sustainable solutions.”
Jonathan Maher, L’Oreal USA, Vice President of CSR & Sustainability

“Climate change is a global problem that demands immediate actions by both businesses and governments. Microsoft takes our responsibility seriously, which is why we’ve been carbon neutral since 2012 and strongly support the negotiators in their efforts to forge an agreement in Paris. The momentum surrounding COP21 negotiations suggests that we are seeing a turning point in global efforts to address climate change.”
Rob Bernard, Microsoft, Chief Environmental Strategist

“California’s future is tied to clean energy. Our people, our policymakers, and our industries all want it—along with the many benefits it offers—as quickly as possible. As California’s largest energy utility, we at Pacific Gas and Electric Company are committed to doing our part to make that transition while improving our quality of life and expanding our economy.”
Tony Earley, Chairman, CEO and President, PG&E Corporation

“Qualcomm supports the adoption of an ambitious global climate agreement that sets the stage for innovation to address the serious global challenge posed by climate change. Finding a solution will require collaboration from stakeholders across the public and private sectors, and we are proud to join many others from the business community to say the time to transition to a low-carbon economy is now.”
Molly Gavin, Qualcomm Incorporated, Vice President of Government Affairs and Sustainability

“Business has a key role to play in addressing global climate challenges. At Sealed Air, we are committed to being a leader in our industry in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We are focused on continued reductions in emissions from our own operations but, more importantly, we are accelerating efforts to deliver new solutions to our customers that help them reduce waste, conserve energy and water, and optimize the use of raw materials. By working together with our customers, we are achieving significant results that benefit not only our businesses, but also the communities where we operate and society overall.”
Jerome A. Peribere, Sealed Air Corporation, President and Chief Executive Officer

“Climate change is one of the great challenges of our time, and the time for meaningful action on a global scale is now. At Symantec we believe moving to a low carbon economy requires innovation and cooperation. We hope others will join us in this important mission.”
Michael A. Brown, Symantec Corp. CEO

“Serious and immediate actions need to be taken to combat climate change. Success will require innovation, collaboration and commitment by business and government. Vigilent will do our part, and we call on other organizations to fulfill their responsibility to meet this great challenge.”
Dave Hudson, Vigilent, CEO

OTHER LEADING VOICES CALL FOR A LOW CARBON USA

C2ES President Bob Perciasepe talks about the important role businesses play in driving US and global climate action in this blog post on the C2ES site.

WWF’s Senior Vice President for Private Sector Engagement Suzanne Apple talks about why this effort is critical to ensuring business and governments work together to close the emissions gap on this OnBalance blog post.

EDF’s Managing Director of Corporate Partnerships Victoria Mills outlines how a strong climate deal makes dollars and sense for American business on the EDF + Business blog.

Lou Leonard, WWF’s vice president for climate change, sheds insight on how COP21 is shaping up and how business voices can support calls for climate action in this Huffington Post piece.

About the advertisement

The ad was coordinated by Business Council for Sustainable Energy, CDP, Ceres, C2ES, Environmental Defense Fund, Environmental Entrepreneurs, The Climate Group, We Mean Business, and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in collaboration with the above businesses.

Download a .pdf of the advertisement.

For more information, contact Matt Banks at World Wildlife Fund.