[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Pages 3644-3645]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             CLIMATE CHANGE

  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, to change the subject from sentencing 
reform to climate change, I come to the floor today for the 93rd 
consecutive week that the Senate has been in session to urge that my 
colleagues wake up to the urgent threat of what results from our levels 
of carbon pollution. It is an opportune time now to consider a step-up 
in American corporate responsibility on climate change. Call it 
corporate climate responsibility 2.0.
  Americans can celebrate and applaud the fact that America's corporate 
leaders have taken so many important steps on climate change. Companies 
such as Walmart and Coca-Cola, to pick just two, see the problem 
clearly and have done great things. Walmart, for instance, has taken 
exemplary responsibility for its carbon footprint not only within its 
facilities but out beyond its corporate walls into its international 
supply chain. Walmart has led the move for consumers away from 
incandescent bulbs and into high-efficiency lighting. If you have ever 
used that machine where you have to crank electricity in order to light 
up an incandescent bulb and then do the same thing for a high 
efficiency bulb, you have an unforgettable experience of how much more 
efficient those modern bulbs are. Walmart has strong and responsible 
carbon policies and Walmart has made a successful business model of 
saving money by reducing carbon emissions. Walmart even has an internal 
price on carbon so it can properly evaluate its internal processes in 
its own facilities against its climate standards.
  This is not new for Walmart. A decade ago, Walmart's then-CEO Lee 
Scott said:

       The science is in, and it is overwhelming. We believe every 
     company has a responsibility to reduce greenhouse gases as 
     quickly as it can.

  Coca-Cola, the other company I mentioned, has exemplary carbon 
policies too. Coca-Cola knows how disruptive climate change can be on 
the water supply that is Coca-Cola's most basic need in its bottling 
facilities. They, too, have found the sweet spot of saving money by 
reducing their carbon output.
  As the Arctic melts, Coca-Cola even put a polar bear on its iconic 
Coke can. Muhtar Kent, Coca-Cola's CEO, has said:

       It is absolutely imperative that our commitment to a low-
     carbon future be fully understood. We're here to lend a Coca-
     Cola voice to the public and political debate on getting to a 
     fair framework, an inclusive framework, and an effective 
     framework so that we can achieve climate protection.

  Many other major corporations have too. There is Google and Apple, 
apparel giant VF Corporation and Nike, Mars, Nestle, and Cargill, 
General Motors and the Ford Motor Company, UPS and Federal Express, 
Unilever and Starbucks. All are in different ways clear-eyed and 
responsible climate champions.
  So there is a lot to celebrate from America's corporate leaders, but 
there is also more to be done. We are right now at a societal and 
political tipping point on climate change, where corporations that are 
already good on climate change--corporations that are sensible and 
responsible on climate change--can make a big difference by taking it 
up one more step and putting their politics where their policies 
already are.
  So what is putting your politics where your policies are? First, it 
is making climate change an issue, something we talk about when we come 
to Congress. I don't know whether Walmart has ever spoken to Senator 
Boozman or Senator Cotton, from their home State of Arkansas, about 
climate change. I know they never spoke to Senator Pryor when he was in 
the Senate because he told me so. I don't know whether Coca-Cola has 
ever spoken about climate change to Senators Isakson or Perdue from 
Coca-Cola's home State of Georgia.
  It is not just them. I pick out Walmart and Coca-Cola because they 
are two of the best companies on carbon reduction. I actually don't 
know of one major American corporation that makes climate change a 
priority when it comes here to Washington and lobbies Congress, not 
one.
  America's corporate leaders have great carbon reduction policies, but 
when they come to Congress, that is not on the agenda of their 
politics. If it were, it would make a difference. I know it is not 
easy. Senior corporate leaders in major American companies have told me 
and others that they fear retribution if they lobby Congress on climate 
change; that they will be punished on tax or trade or liability or 
regulatory or other issues they have in Congress.
  That is how ugly and rough the fossil fuel lobby plays around here. 
But there is an answer: group up. The fossil fuel industry and its 
allies in Congress cannot punish everyone. They cannot punish Coke and 
Pepsi and Walmart and Target and VF Corporation and Nike and Apple and 
Google and Ford and GM and Mars and Nestle and Unilever. They cannot 
punish them all.
  So, please, I ask our corporate leaders: Make an agreement with one 
another that you will not abandon your climate principles when you come 
to Congress. If good corporations will not speak up, the only corporate 
force lobbying and politicking Congress on climate change is the fossil 
fuel industry. You will get exactly what you have now: a Congress in 
which Members fear to take action on climate because they know one 
side, the fossil fuel boys, will punish them. They do not know any 
other side that will help them.
  So the first part of corporate climate responsibility 2.0 is: Do not 
abandon hope all ye who enter here. Do not check your principles at the 
door. A second part of corporate climate responsibility 2.0 would be to 
stand by

[[Page 3645]]

your principles with those who advocate for you. The best corporate 
citizens push their good climate policies out beyond their corporate 
walls into their supply chains. They insist that their suppliers comply 
with those climate principles. They will not do business with suppliers 
that do not abide by their climate principles.
  So it would be consistent to push their good climate policies out 
into their advocacy organizations, too, and insist that their advocates 
comply with those same climate principles, just like their suppliers 
must.
  They ought not to do business with advocacy groups that will not 
abide by their climate principles. What am I talking about? I have 
described how good Coca-Cola has been on climate issues. It is terrific 
on climate issues. Coca-Cola and its bottlers are also important vital 
members of the American Beverage Association, which sits on the board 
of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which is one of the worst climate 
denial organizations and which is a persistent obstacle to any 
responsible action on carbon emissions.
  Similarly, Verizon, 3M, and Ford, all with good climate policies, all 
sit on the board of this organization with opposite policies. If they 
would not put up with it from their suppliers, if their suppliers 
flouted their principles, why put up with it from a corporate 
mouthpiece they support but that flouts their principles?
  If corporate climate change policies are important enough to push 
beyond the corporate walls and into the supply chain, they should be 
important enough to push beyond the corporate walls and into the 
corporation's advocacy organizations. It does not make sense for 
corporations to speak out of one side of their mouths on climate change 
and then contradict themselves, through their corporate mouthpieces, 
their advocacy organizations.
  Some do not. Nike resigned from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce board of 
directors over the chamber's horrible climate policies. Apple left the 
chamber altogether. So have big electric utilities such as Exelon and 
PG&E and so have many local chambers of commerce. Google left the 
American Legislative Exchange Council, known as ALEC. When Google left 
ALEC last year because of that group's bad climate position, Google CEO 
Eric Schmidt said of the group: ``They are literally lying'' about 
climate change. You do not need to support an organization that is 
``literally lying'' about climate change--not under corporate climate 
responsibility 2.0. It is not necessary to have your own trade 
association or legislative organization arguing against you.
  The same should be true of opinion outlets. For decades, the Wall 
Street Journal editorial page has been an important and respected voice 
of the business community. But now on climate change, the Wall Street 
Journal editorial page never reflects the views on climate change of 
most of America's corporate leaders, only its fossil fuel corporate 
leaders.
  That page has become exclusively the voice of the fossil fuel 
industry, and of their climate denial front organizations. In fact, in 
some ways we could say the Wall Street Journal editorial page has 
actually become a climate denial front organization. The fossil fuel 
companies have co-opted the Wall Street Journal editorial page. Where 
is the objection from American corporations, big well-known American 
corporations that have spent millions and millions of dollars 
addressing their carbon emissions, that have spent enormous corporate 
effort, all the way up to the CEO level, dedicated to a carbon solution 
and that have developed great policies on climate change? Why be silent 
when the voice of the business community is saying the exact opposite 
of what you have worked so hard for and care so much about?
  Under corporate climate responsibility 2.0, companies such as that 
could stand up for their own well-established climate principles and 
against the opposition to their own corporate principles from the Wall 
Street Journal editorial page. I feel we are so close to getting 
something done, something big done on climate change. Our corporate 
sector has shown so much leadership. The great American corporate 
leadership on climate change aligns exactly with what America's science 
leadership is also saying.
  The great American corporate leadership on climate change aligns 
exactly with what America's military and national security leaders are 
also saying. The great American corporate leadership on climate change 
aligns exactly with what so many of our religious leaders are saying 
all the way up to Pope Francis. Of course, American corporate 
leadership on climate change aligns with what Americans, the customers 
of these corporations, want and expect.
  So let's take it up a step. Let's ask our corporate leaders to step 
it up to corporate climate responsibility 2.0 and take their existing 
good policies and line them up with their politics, take what they 
demand of their suppliers and demand the same of their advocates. That 
would be a big way for America's corporate leaders to help this body 
wake up.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DAINES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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