A group of ten major corporations has formed a partnership with four leading environmental groups to seek a U.S. cap on greenhouse gas emissions along with a reduction of up to 15 percent within 15 years.

The broad coalition, known as U.S. Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), will unveil the most detailed and most aggressive proposal yet for legislation endorsed by any group of major corporations to date.

"We expect this action to demonstrate that the political ground has shifted fundamentally - that businesses are now joining with our community to urge prompt and strong action by Congress to cut global warming pollution," said Natural Resources Defense Council president Frances Beinecke.

Members of the coalition are DuPont, GE, Duke Energy, BP America, Alcoa, PNM Resources, PG&E, Caterpillar, Florida Power and Light, and Lehman Brothers, along with the World Resources Institute, NRDC, the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, and Environmental Defense.

The "Call for Action" urges Congress to adopt comprehensive global warming legislation without delay, and it specifies a detailed time-line for emission reductions, starting now and increasing in stringency through 2050. The recommended emission reductions are expressed as a range of reductions below current levels in order to garner broad agreement among all the members of USCAP. The higher end of the range is consistent with the most aggressive emission reduction targets that have been proposed to date.

"The Call for Action" does not contain legislative language for a draft bill or legislative specifications for all significant provisions that would be in a comprehensive bill. However, criteria for defining these specifics are set forth in the document.

The group says it is committed to working together to promote the objectives articulated in the "Call for Action." There are some important substantive provisions that USCAP will not make a specific recommendation on and are not prevented from supporting legislation that may differ from "the Call For Action." However, USCAP members say they do share a desire for prompt enactment of a strong bill and we are working to bridge our differences while also adding additional members to our coalition.

The idea for this initiative arose out of conversations that NRDC, WRI, ED and Pew had with GE and other USCAP companies in recent years. About a year ago, the group convened a group of companies, including CEOs, and began forging a collective call for action. The "Call for Action" is the result.

Says NRDC's Beinecke: "Going forward, we expect additional organization and companies to join USCAP, and together we will continue to press for the passage of historic legislation to slow, stop and reverse global warming pollution.