Obama's Climate Push Plays Catch-up With Corporate Lobbyists

(page 2 of 2)

Story Tools

"The fundamental thing is to come up with a deal on the intermediate targets for 2020," Hawksworth said in a telephone interview. "Once you've got the price on carbon, that sends the signal that businesses need in order to make the long-term investments in low carbon technologies and processes."

Allianz, Europe's largest insurer, supports the 2-degree limit as well as financing for developing countries to adapt to climate change, said Nick Tewes, a spokesman. By limiting the risks associated with climate change, the insurer will also minimize its potential claims, he said.

U.S. Chamber's Opposition

Those on the other side of the issue also will be in Copenhagen, including representatives of the Washington-based U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the biggest U.S. business-lobbying organization. The group has questioned mandatory emissions cuts as part of an international accord and is calling for an emphasis on clean-energy technology.

The Chamber is fighting against U.S. legislation, which passed the House and is stalled in the Senate, to require a cut in greenhouse-gas pollution. It would cap emissions and set up a market to trade pollution allowances.

The Paris-based IEA estimates that efforts to keep warming to less than 2 degrees since industrialization will add $10.5 trillion to the investment needed by 2030 to upgrade power stations, pipelines and refineries. The IEA also backs keeping the concentration of heat-trapping carbon dioxide to 450 parts per million, compared with about 385 now.

Greenpeace, Corporate Link

Amsterdam-based Greenpeace has called for an increase of no more than 2 degrees for at least seven years, said Kaisa Kosonen, a climate adviser for the environmental group. Greenpeace calls for global emissions to peak by 2015, five years earlier than the corporations.

Enel SpA, Italy's largest utility, wants competitors around the world to accept CO2 regulations similar to those the Rome- based company already faces in the European Union.

"In order to get these targets, for 2 degrees of 450 parts per million, and emissions cuts, you need private investors like us," said Simone Mori, head of regulation and environment at Enel, who may travel to Copenhagen.

The two-degree target has been a goal for the 27-nation European Union since 1996. In July, major greenhouse-gas polluters including the U.S., China, India and Japan signed up to the target, which has also been discussed in the UN negotiations as a possible long-term "shared vision."

The move marked the first time developing nations had set such a target to fight climate change.

Opponent Inhofe

The talk of momentum doesn't sway one of the U.S. Congress's biggest climate-change skeptics, Republican Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, who also will come to Copenhagen. He says the meeting is doomed, even with Obama's entourage attending on the last day.

"No amount of lofty rhetoric or promises of future commitments can save it," Inhofe said in a statement. That's in part because legislation pending in the Senate to cap emissions "is dying on the vine."

To contact the reporters on this story: Kim Chipman in Copenhagen at KChipman@bloomberg.net; Alex Morales Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net.