U.S. Chamber’s Energy Institute Calls For Business Role In Climate Change Talks

Speaking at a September 21 Chamber event, Institute for 21st Century Energy CEO Karen Harbert said that business must play a larger role in global climate change negotiations.

 
With the Senate gearing up to introduce a new climate bill and with negotiations on a new global climate-change treaty in Copenhagen just two months away, the U.S. Chamber's Institute for 21st Century Energy brought together business leaders from 12 leading economies to lobby for a bigger seat at the climate change negotiating table.

"As both domestic and international climate change negotiations continue, it is important to remember that it will be up to the private sector to execute the decisions made in Washington and Copenhagen," says Karen Harbert, president and CEO of the Institute.

The Institute held its Major Economies Business Forum on Energy Security and Climate Change at Chamber headquarters September 21-22, 2009.  The forum was intended to facilitate a dialogue among global business groups in major developed and developing nations to find areas of commonality on energy security, energy efficiency and climate policies, intellectual property rights, technology, competitiveness and economic growth.

"The Chamber and the Institute are working to unify regulators, policymakers, and most importantly, the business community behind a commonsense climate change policy that's good for the environment and good for business," says David Chavern, Chamber executive vice president and chief operating officer. "The Chamber would welcome a new agreement, but it's important that we get it right."

The business community must come together to come up with a solution, Gov. Joe Manchin (D-WV) said during his remarks to the group. "West Virginia has always stepped to the forefront to provide the energy that powers the United States, and we are committed to finding more efficient and environmentally responsible ways to continue to provide that energy source in the future," he said.

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) highlighted the benefits of emissions-free nuclear power in his remarks.  "The truth is that if we want safe, cost-effective, reliable, low-carbon electricity, we can no longer ignore the wisdom of the rest of the world and must invest more in the technology we ourselves invented: nuclear power," he said.

Representatives from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Europe, India, and Japan, among other nations, attended the event and signed on to a joint declaration.

Learn more at www.energyxxi.org/