Last year, we suggested more private-sector leaders would begin to address climate issues. They did. Starting with the very visible GE Ecomagination launch last spring and then followed by companies like JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Wal-Mart, it was a year in which leading companies took strong positions on climate change.

In the past, companies took steps like improving energy efficiency that made sense for economic reasons. The positions of leading corporations today are much more aggressive. WRI has collaborated with more than 20 Fortune 100 companies on their climate change strategies. GE, for example, didn't just say it would look at its own emissions; the company said it would increase its sales of climate-friendly products from $10 billion to $20 billion in five years. Wall Street leader Goldman Sachs committed to reducing its emissions and advising its customers about major investments in technology to reduce emissions. NatureWorks, a Cargill company, makes plastics from corn driven by non-fossil energy not because they are "greenies," but because it is good business strategy.

Big reinsurance companies and risk professionals have begun to drive the process. After Hurricane Katrina, Munich Re quadrupled its insurance for drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. Companies have begun to market climate risk related products, and to exclude climate liability from directors and officers insurance.

Climate risk and markets for climate friendly products are becoming important drivers in business choices. Many companies assume there will be legislation to reduce emissions within the next 5 years.

Increasingly, they see the uncertainty about what will happen when as dangerous and expensive. In 2006, it will be worth watching which business leaders say so publicly.

And what about Exxon? Will the company begin to change its dismissive stance on climate after the retirement of its CEO Lee Raymond?