Climate 411

On Friday, we released a set of interactive maps showing 1,200 companies that are poised to benefit from a national cap on carbon pollution.

Jackie Roberts, our director of sustainable technologies, put it this way: “These maps tell the story of companies across the manufacturing heartland that will get new customers and create jobs with a cap on carbon.”

The maps were presented at the kick-off meeting of Vice President Joe Biden’s Middle Class Task Force. (Here’s a liveblog of the event from the White House web site.)

Reactions are coming in. Politico gives an overview of the political context, Care2 features a video interview of Jackie explaining where the map idea came from and how to use the maps. The folks over at Environmental Leader and Climate Biz weighed in, too.

If you have any comments on the maps, please post them here.

There’s been a lot of buzz lately about the U.S. Climate Action Partnership and its new blueprint for a cap on global warming pollution. Last week, the diverse group of environmental nonprofits and leading companies from every sector of the U.S. economy unveiled a detailed plan for legislation — the consensus product of two years of intense analysis and debate.

As a consensus document, it won’t satisfy everyone’s design for the perfect climate bill. Instead, it bridges the gap on the most important issues in the legislative debate, giving members of Congress clear guidelines for legislation that are environmentally effective, economically smart, and politically achievable.

It’s an attempt to find the “sweet spot” that can move the U.S. forward on climate change, in real, practical terms, toward a strong domestic emissions cap that reduces pollution at home and enables the U.S. to lead an effective global emissions reduction effort. Read More »