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| leonard78sp at (no spam) primus.ca... |
 Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 8:47 am |
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Lawrence Solomon: DuPontıs new game
DuPont made a killing in the battle over CFC regulation. Now itıs poised to
do it all over again with carbon dioxide.
By Lawrence Solomon
Fourth in a series.
In the 1800s, DuPontıs first century as an industrial concern, it cashed in
on the money to be made in explosives. In its second century, the 1900s,
DuPont morphed into a money machine in chemistry and energy. In this, its
third century, DuPont sees green in a new cash cow, one it projects will
take it to unprecedented profitability sustainable development.
This corporate strategy, explains chairman Chad Holliday, is both principled
and fundamental: ³DuPontıs sustainability commitments arenıt just good for
business they are our business.²
DuPontıs commitment to sustainability began in 1997 when it decided to
abandon its membership in The Global Climate Coalition, a high-powered lobby
created by the oil, gas, coal, automobile and chemical companies to counter
fears of global warming. Although the coalition had been created in 1989,
soon after the first meeting of the UNıs Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change, the coalition was losing the PR battle. DuPont switched sides and
began to lobby for government to stop global warming.
In doing so, DuPont took a page out of its own playbook. In 1980, DuPont had
spearheaded the creation of the Alliance for Responsible CFC Policy, a lobby
group that would successfully fight off regulation of CFCs, a chemical that
many companies manufactured. Then in 1986, with patented alternatives to
CFCs in hand, DuPont had a change of heart.
In a move its Alliance partners considered a betrayal, DuPont switched
sides, called CFCs a danger to the planet, and lobbied the Reagan
Administration to ban CFCs. So successful was DuPont that Ronald Reagan
became the worldıs first head of state to personally push his government to
ban CFCs. DuPontıs efforts culminated in the Montreal Protocol, a treaty
Reagan described as ³a monumental achievement.²
Others were ambivalent about what had transpired. As put by Mostafa Tolba,
the Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme, ³The difficulties in
negotiating the Montreal Protocol had nothing whatever to do with whether
the environment was damaged or not. It was all who was going to gain an edge
over whom; whether DuPont would have an advantage over the European
companies or not.²
The advantage went to DuPont, which soon controlled the rich replacement
market for CFCs. Du Pontıs Freon Division Director, Joseph Glass, laid out
DuPontıs coup succinctly: ³When you have $3-billion of CFCs sold worldwide
and 70% of that is about to be regulated out of existence, there is a
tremendous market potential.²
DuPont is now keen to duplicate its ³monumental achievement² with other
regulatory coups in the richest regulatory environment of all that of
global warming. To this end, it helped found the United States Climate
Action Partnership (USCAP), a coalition of blue-chip business and
environmental groups, to lobby the U.S. government for legislation that will
suit their agenda. From DuPontıs point of view, USCAP has been another
monumental achievement. Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed
a global warming bill largely a USCAP product that represents the
largest transfer of wealth from U.S. consumers to corporate interests in
history. As DuPontıs Holliday told the committee with evident satisfaction,
³we are pleased to see that many of the ideas we have developed are
reflected in this bill.²
As well he should be. The mammoth billıs cap-and-trade system not only gives
DuPont and other major emitters a windfall in free emission allowances, but
also boosts a host of the technologies that DuPont specializes in. As a
cherry on top, DuPont will not only receive subsidies for upgrades and other
investments it would have made regardless, it could even receive subsidies
for such investments made before the bill was passed.
The bill, though endorsed by environmental groups happy with the grand
bargain being made, is not without controversy. Greenpeace opposes the bill
on numerous grounds, not least because of its corporate giveaways and
because it would spur a new generation of coal and nuclear power plants.
Other environmentalists deplore its boost to biofuels, and the effect that
carbon offsets can have on the Third Worldıs environment. But though the
billıs environmental benefits are in doubt, there are no doubts as to its
effect on DuPontıs bottom line.
After it helped found USCAP two years ago, DuPont predicted that by 2015 it
would be able to grow its annual greenhouse-gas related revenues by at least
$2-billion a year, and that its sales of renewable materials that displace
fossil fuels would double to $8-billion. If the bill does indeed become law,
DuPontıs estimates will look awfully sustainable. As will those of the
legions of other corporations whose lobbying has made climate change the
worldıs largest industry with the worldıs largest payoffs for those skilled
at gaming the system.
Financial Post
lawrencesolomon at (no spam) nextcity.com
Lawrence Solomon is executive director of Energy Probe and Urban Renaissance
Institute and author of The Deniers: The world-renowned scientists who stood
up against global warming hysteria, political persecution, and fraud. |
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