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Resolution: Greenhouse Gas Reductions
2007 Shareholder Resolution approved by the Advisory Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility (ACCSR)
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Resolution:
Greenhouse Gas Reductions
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) recently concluded that warming of the climate system
is unequivocal and that human activity is the main cause.
Debate surrounding climate change now focuses not on whether
a problem exists but rather on the best means for abatement
and adaptation.
The rise in average global temperatures resulting from
climate change is expected to have significant adverse
impacts. According to Business Week, many scientists agree
that the warmer temperatures resulting from climate change
are causing more powerful storms and perhaps intensifying
extreme weather events including droughts and wild fires.
Thermal expansion and melting ice sheets are expected to
lead to rising sea levels, with significant implications for
coastal communities. Rising temperatures will also impact
fresh water supplies. California’s Department of Water
Resources, for instance, has stated that, “Adapting
California’s water management systems to climate change
presents one of the most significant challenges for the 21st
century.”
Climate change also has important economic implications. The
Stern Review, often cited as the most comprehensive overview
of the economics of climate change, estimated that the
cumulative economic impacts of climate change could be
equivalent to a loss of up to 20% of average world-wide
consumption if action is not taken quickly. A more general
pronouncement in the IPCC’s report, Climate Change 2007:
Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, observed that “Taken
as a whole, the range of published evidence indicates that
the net damage costs of climate change are likely to be
significant and to increase over time.”
According to the Washington Post, “Buildings are the largest
source of the greenhouse-gas emissions that are causing
global warming, and in the United States, half of
building-related emissions are from houses.” The EPA
estimates that the residential end-use sector accounted for
21% of CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion in 2005.
With residential end-use accounting for such a high
proportion of GHG emissions stemming from fossil fuel
combustion, a number of recent studies have focused on
energy efficiency improvements in residential dwellings as a
potential source of emission reductions. One recent study in
The McKinsey Quarterly found that nearly a quarter of
cost-effective GHG abatement potential involves
efficiency-enhancing measures geared at reducing demand in
the buildings and transportation sectors. A second McKinsey
study concluded that the residential sector represents the
single-largest opportunity to raise energy productivity,
noting that, “The adoption of available technologies
(including high-efficiency building shells, compact
fluorescent lighting, and high-efficiency water heating)
would cut … end-use demand for energy by 32 QBTUs in 2020,
equivalent to 5 percent of global end-user demand in that
year.”
RESOLVED:
Shareholders request that the Board of Directors adopt
quantitative goals, based on available technologies, for
reducing total greenhouse gas emissions from the Company's
products and operations and report to shareholders by
December 31, XXXX, on its plans to achieve these goals. Such
a report will omit proprietary information and be prepared
at reasonable cost.
OR
RESOLVED:
Shareholders request that by December 31, XXXX the Board of
Directors provide a climate change report, prepared at
reasonable cost and omitting proprietary information, on the
feasibility of developing policies that will minimize our
company’s impact upon climate change, with a focus on
reducing greenhouse gas emissions and on anticipated
economic benefits to our company.
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