OAKLAND, CA — BP, Caterpillar and ConocoPhillips will not renew their memberships in the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, choosing instead to devote resources to furthering their business interests through friendlier climate legislation or new product development.
The companies were some of the earliest members of the group, a coalition between major businesses and environmental groups promoting an economy-wide, market-driven approach to address climate change. BP and Caterpillar were among 10 original founding members when USCAP launched in early 2007, while ConocoPhillips joined a few months later.
The group helped to influence the direction of U.S. climate policy. Several of the recommendations it offered in its blueprint to address climate change surfaced in the creation of the Waxman-Markey climate bill that passed in the U.S. House of Representatives last summer. That bill, along with another piece of legislation now stalled in the Senate, however, doesn't provide an adequate number of carbon permits to refiners, ConocoPhillips said in a statement today, while also failing to offer enough incentives for lower-carbon natural gas use.
"House climate legislation and Senate proposals to date have disadvantaged the transportation sector and its consumers, left domestic refineries unfairly penalized versus international competition, and ignored the critical role that natural gas can play in reducing GHG emissions," ConocoPhillips Chairman and CEO Jim Mulva said in a statment. "We believe greater attention and resources need to be dedicated to reversing these missed opportunities, and our actions today are part of that effort. Addressing these issues will save thousands of American jobs, as well as create new ones."
The company's senior vice president of government affairs told the New York Times that ConocoPhillips wouldn't participate in USCAP lobbying efforts this year, but would instead work through transportation and trade groups for legislation that is more favorable to the transportation sector.
"USCAP was starting to do more and more on trying to get a bill out without trying to work as much on the substance of it," Red Cavaney told the Wall Street Journal in a separate interview.
BP said only its approach is now different, not its position on climate change.
"What this does is underscore our desire to continue to participate in this important discussion but to do it as BP," Company Spokesman Ronnie Chappell told the Wall Street Journal.
Meanwhile, Caterpillar, a heavy equipment maker that recently joined the FutureGen Alliance to advance carbon capture and storage, said it would spend its money on commercializing low-carbon technologies.
The other eight founding USCAP members are still part of the group, according to its website, except for now-defunct Lehman Brothers. Failed insurer AIG is also no longer a member.