Corporate Policy Preferences in the EU and the US: Emissions Trading as the Climate Compromise?

Abstract

Since the agreement of the Kyoto Protocol, business in the EU and the US has been split over the course of climate policy. Companies in Europe largely accepted mandatory emission controls. Companies in the US, instead, promoted voluntary commitments. However, in early 2007 the CEOs of major US corporations and the heads of a number of leading environmental groups called for the creation of a domestic cap-and-trade scheme. The launch of the US Climate Action Partnership has been widely perceived as a sea change in the positioning of corporate America on climate change. This article reviews the regulatory preferences of major business associations on both sides of the Atlantic. This serves to assess whether the transatlantic gap on corporate positioning on climate change is actually narrowing and what the compromise solution might be.