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Dear Friends,
Last Monday afternoon I found myself seated on a tall director's chair next to Jeffrey Immelt the Chairman and CEO of General Electric. The occasion was a press conference announcing GE's "Ecomagination" campaign. GE has made a business decision to grow by selling technologies from hybrid locomotives to wind turbines that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We were joined by top executives from important GE customers - utilities, a railroad, Boeing.
It all seemed a bit improbable, but hopeful.
I was there because when a company like GE makes confronting global climate change a major element of their business strategy that is significant, and I wanted to say so. A top executive from another company told me the next day "GE is an icon. Business leaders will take heed."
GE is one of the companies we have worked with on climate issues, and we are very encouraged by what they have committed to do. They used the GHG Protocol WRI created to develop a corporate GHG inventory and strategy, and they are engaged with us in our Climate Northeast project to explore how companies can thrive in a greenhouse gas constrained world. This later effort is developing a group of climate leadership companies in the Northeast, where we are working with policymakers to design a regional greenhouse gas trading system.
Below you will find a link to my remarks at the Ecoimagination launch event, as well as some links to coverage by the Washington Post, New York Times, and Grist.
Let me know what you think.
Jonathan Lash
President
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