I firmly believe that the engagement of the business sector in fighting climate change is crucial.
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Cutting carbon dioxide emissions is a fine idea, and a lot of companies would be proud to do it. But they would prefer to be second, if not third or fourth. This is not a good way to get started in fighting global warming. As efforts to pass a bill on global warming collapsed in the U.S. Senate last week, companies that burn coal to make electricity were looking for a way to build a plant that would capture its emissions. There is a will and a way - several ways, in fact - to do just that. Capturing carbon from these plants may become a lot more important soon. Emissions from coal-fired power plants already account for about 27 percent of U.S. greenhouse emissions, but as prices for other fuels rise, along with power demand, utilities will burn more coal.
And if cars someday run on batteries, a trend that $4-a-gallon, or about $1 a liter, gasoline will accelerate, then the utilities will burn even more fuel to generate the electricity to recharge those batteries. This could be good news, because controlling emissions from a few hundred power plants is easier than controlling them from tens of millions of house chimneys or tailpipes. And in the laboratory, at least, there are several very promising systems for capturing carbon dioxide before pumping it underground. But supplying electricity is not like most other businesses. Unlike the companies that make microchips, clothing for teenagers or snack foods, the companies that make electricity can see no advantage in going first. This is true for the traditionally regulated utilities that can charge everything to a captive class of customers (if regulators approve), and it is also true for the "merchant generators," who build power plants and sell their output on the open market.
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