OEMs Champion Clean Economic Development

Reducing greenhouse gases good for environment, good for business

by Kimberly Chapple
kchapple@designfax.net

The Business Environmental Leadership Council (BELC) of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, Arlington, VA, is comprised of 26 major corporations, including manufacturers like ABB, Air Products and Chemicals, Baxter, Boeing, BP Amoco, Intel, Lockheed Martin, Maytag, Toyota, United Technologies and Whirlpool. Engineers and other employees in these companies are working with the Pew Center to explore how businesses can become part of the solution to climate change while sustaining a growing global economy.

Meeting the challenge of global change calls for "no less than a second industrial revolution," says Eileen Claussen, president of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, adding, "We need to promote new technologies and new investments that will put the entire world on a path to clean economic development." OEM participants recognize it's better to be part of the solution than to have solutions imposed from the outside.

Company participation is voluntary, and BELC members do not contribute financially to the organization. Those who join the effort first believe that enough is known about the science and environmental impacts of climate change to warrant action. The growing scientific consensus is that the present warming is largely the result of emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases primarily from human activities, including industrial processes, fossil fuel combustion, and changes in land use, such as deforestation. Specifically, council members are committed to take concrete steps to assess emission reduction opportunities, establish and meet emission reduction objectives, and invest in more efficient products, practices and technologies.

To view case studies reflecting goals and results of many of the OEMs listed here or for information on joining the effort or Pew Center/BELC activities:

Circle 586 - Pew Center or connect directly to their website via our Online Reader Service Program at http://www.1rs.com/012df-586