The move throws the lobbying voice of corporate America behind efforts to combat climate change.
The Business Roundtable, a major trade association that includes the heads of some of the largest and most influential companies in the U.S. as members, is endorsing a “market-based mechanism” as part of a plan to sharply curb greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change,
The move, which was first reported by POLITICO on Tuesday, throws the lobbying voice of those executives from companies with $7 trillion in annual revenues behind efforts to combat climate change, reflecting a stark division between the business community and the Trump administration.
In a statement on its website, the Business Roundtable warned of the threats that climate change posed to the United States, and said although significant progress had been made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the uncertainty caused by the patchwork of state and federal efforts was hurting companies.
“It is time for a new approach,” the statement said.
The group also backed the goals of the 2015 Paris agreement of limiting average global temperature increases to 2 degrees Celsius — a sharp break from President Donald Trump, who is planning to make the U.S. the only country in the world to pull out of the pact.
“The United States and the international community must aggressively reduce GHG emissions and create incentives for developing new technologies to achieve this goal. Business Roundtable supports a goal of reducing net U.S. GHG emissions by at least 80 percent from 2005 levels by 2050,” it said.
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