GE, Lehman, to Call for Carbon Cap Before Bush Speech (Update1)

Bloomberg: GE, Lehman, to Call for Carbon Cap Before Bush Speech (Update1)

Jan. 19 (Bloomberg) — General Electric Co. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. are among 10 companies that will urge the U.S. government to establish a cap on carbon dioxide emissions to reduce global warming pollution by as much as 30 percent within 15 years.

They are part of a new alliance that seeks a so-called cap and trade system to curb the growth of carbon emissions. Scientists say carbon spewed from cars, power plants and other human sources is causing temperatures and sea levels to rise, leading to erratic and extreme weather as well as potentially irreversible climate changes worldwide.

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The companies are calling for a cap and trade system, creating a market in which carbon emitters, such as power plants, that don't meet reduction targets would buy credits from those who reduce output of the gases.

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Members of the new coalition, dubbed the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, include Peoria, Illinois-based Caterpillar Inc., the world's largest maker of earthmoving equipment, and electric utilities including Charlotte, North Carolina-based Duke Energy Corp., San Francisco-based PG&E Corp., Juno Beach, Florida-based FPL Group Inc. and Albuquerque, New Mexico-based PNM Resources Inc.

Wilmington, Delaware-based DuPont Co., the third-largest U.S. chemical maker, and New York-based Alcoa Inc., the world's biggest aluminum maker, also are part of the coalition. London- based BP Plc, Europe's second-largest oil company, is the one non-U.S. member.