81 major U.S.-based corporations sign The American Business Act on Climate Pledge

'We recognize that delaying action on climate change will be costly in economic and human terms...'

Eighty-one major U.S.-based corporations have teamed up with the White House and took a pledge to support the upcoming climate change agreement set to be adopted at the Paris climate conference in December.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - In a statement released by the White House, major corporation signings for the White House's American Business Act on Climate Change Pledge sets an example for other companies to pledge their support as well. It also indicates support for the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference which will be held in Paris.

The White House reported each of the 81 companies "have operations in all 50 states, employ over 9 million people, represent more than $3 trillion in annual revenue, and have a combined market capitalization of over $5 trillion."

To help reach his lofty, but entirely possible, goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions economy-wide by 26 to 38 percent by 2025, U.S. President Barack Obama held a meeting with top CEOs this week to discuss possible avenues of fighting climate change.

Following the meeting, Obama held a press briefing where he said, "Historically when you start talking about an issue like climate change the perception is that this is an environmental issue - it's for tree-huggers - and that hard-headed business people either don't care about it or see it as in conflict with their bottom lines ...

"This conversation has confirmed what we've known for quite some time, which is that considerations of climate change, energy efficiency, renewable energies are not only not contradictory to their bottom lines, but for these companies they're discovering that it can enhance their bottom lines."

The companies that signed the pledge are as follows:

Abengoa Bioenergy US

Aemetis, Alcoa

American Express

Apple

AT&T

Autodesk

Bank of America

Berkshire Hathaway Energy

Best Buy

Biogen

Bloomberg

Cargill

CA Technologies

Calpine

Campos Brothers Farms

Coca-Cola

Cox Enterprises

Dell

DSM North America

EMC, Energy Optimizers

Ener-G Rudox

Facebook

Fulcrum Bioenergy

GE

General Mills

General Motors

Goldman Sachs

Google

Hershey's

Hewlett Packard

Iberdrola USA

IBM

IKEA USA

Ingersoll Rand

International Paper

Intel

Intex Solutions, Inc.

Intren

Invenergy

Johnson and Johnson

Johnson Controls

Kellogg's

Keystone Electrical Manufacturing

Kingspan Insulated Panels, Inc.

Lakeshore Learning Materials

LAM Research

Levi Strauss & Co.

L'Oreal USA

Mars

McDonalds Corporation

Microsoft

Monsanto

National Label Company

Nike

Nestle

Novozymes

One3LED

Pacific Ethanol

Pepsi-Co

PG&E

POET

Portland General Electric

PwC US

Procter & Gamble

Qualcomm

Ricoh USA

Salesforce.com

Schneider Electric

Siemens Corporation

SONY Corporation of America

Starbucks

Syngenta/QCCP

Target

Tri-Global Energy

Unilever

UPS

Walmart

The Walt Disney Company

Xerox Corporation

Each corporation has come to the table with individual goals, including plans to cut carbon emissions up to 50 percent, using 100 percent renewable energy sources, research into zero net deforestation along supply chains and efficient use of water by up to 15 percent.

The American Business Act on Climate Pledge reads:

"We applaud the growing number of countries that have already set ambitious targets for climate action. In this context, we support the conclusion of a climate change agreement in Paris that takes a strong step forward toward a low-carbon, sustainable future.

"We recognize that delaying action on climate change will be costly in economic and human terms, while accelerating the transition to a low-carbon economy will produce multiple benefits with regard to sustainable economic growth, public health, resilience to natural disasters, and the health of the global environment."

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