GM is first automaker to join U.S. carbon cap group

Reuters |
May 8, 2007 - 11:00 am


NEW YORK (Reuters) -- General Motors said today it will be the first automaker to join a coalition of environmental groups and large businesses in pressing the U.S. government to pass mandatory caps on emissions of gases linked to global warming.

The U.S. Climate Action Partnership, formed earlier this year, seeks economy-wide greenhouse gas emission reductions of 60 to 80 percent by 2050.

"A central element as we see it, is energy diversity -- being able to offer consumers vehicles that can be powered by many different energy sources and advanced propulsion systems to help displace petroleum and reduce greenhouse gas emissions," GM CEO Rick Wagoner said in a statement.

In emerging emissions markets, setting laws to cap smokestack emissions of stationary sources, such as refineries and heavy industry, has proven to be easier than capping tailpipe emissions from vehicles, which are smaller and more numerous.

The European Union's carbon market and the U.S. Northeastern states' Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative have concentrated first on smokestack emissions.

Several of the emissions bills in U.S. Congress seek to cap emissions on an economy-wide basis, while others focus solely on stationary sources.

President George W. Bush says mandatory caps on greenhouse gases would hurt the economy and drive jobs to rapidly developing countries that do not have emissions regulations.

He supports millions of dollars in incentives for what he calls lower-carbon ethanol made from corn and new sources like switchgrass and poplar trees.


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