"Corporate Policy Preferences in the EU and the US: Emissions Trading as the Climate Compromise?"

Journal Article, Carbon and Climate Law Review, issue 2/2008

2008

Author: Jonas Meckling, Former Research Fellow, Geopolitics of Energy Project, 2010–2012; Harvard Project on Climate Agreements, 2009–2010; Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group, 2007–2009

Belfer Center Programs or Projects: Energy Technology Innovation Policy; Environment and Natural Resources; Science, Technology, and Public Policy

ABSTRACT

Since the agreement of the Kyoto Protocol, business in the EU and the US has been split over the course of climate policy. Companies in Europe largely accepted mandatory emission controls. Companies in the US, instead, promoted voluntary commitments. However, in early 2007 the CEOs of major US corporations and the heads of a number of leading environmental groups called for the creation of a domestic cap-and-trade scheme. The launch of the US Climate Action Partnership has been widely perceived as a sea change in the positioning of corporate America on climate change. This article reviews the regulatory preferences of major business associations on both sides of the Atlantic. This serves to assess whether the transatlantic gap on corporate positioning on climate change is actually narrowing and what the compromise solution might be.

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Full text of this publication is available at:
http://www.lexxion.eu/cclr/current_issue.php

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