Chevron supports Global Warming

Some good progress was made this week as Al Gore implored Congress to freeze greenhouse gasses at a Capitol Hill hearing and 65+ institutional investors including CalPERS signed a pact encouraging Congress to enact green legislation. The Ceres pact is a follow-up to the 225+ institutional investor launch of the Carbon Disclosure Project in January, 2007 which centralizes emissions reporting from over 1,000 corporations including General Electric, DuPont and Caterpillar at one website.

On the other hand, not in the press and not getting the message at all is Big Oil company Chevron, boldly asking investors to vote against proposal #5 on its annual proxy to "Adopt Goals and Report on Greenhouse Gas Emissions." Not surprising given the entrenchment (some have been board members since 1982 and 1989) and lack of diversity (one female, added in 2006 and two people of color) on its board.

At least many corporations are taking action and even some Big Oil companies such as BP are part of the Carbon Disclosure Project. It will be nice to finally see some improvement in stock prices from companies like GE after their successful multi-year effort to reduce emissions.