Food Industry Executives Call on Congress for Climate Change Action

If the US Congress is to take meaningful action to curb climate change, the support of corporate America and Republicans will be required. This is why a meeting of food industry executives and politicians – joined by a lone Republican congressman – on Capitol Hill on Thursday may be the first glimmer of a bipartisan approach to climate action.

US senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat, and US representative Chris Gibson, a New York Republican, chaired the briefing. Bucking party orthodoxy, Gibson recently drew attention by organizing 11 moderate Republicans to support a resolution acknowledging the reality of climate change and asking Congress to act.

The briefing was held to call attention to a letter signed by CEOs of some of the world’s biggest food companies, which asks governments to set “clear, achievable” science-based targets for carbon emissions reductions. Ceres circulated the letter, which was published in full-page ads in the Washington Post and Financial Times.

Signed by the CEOs of companies including Mars, General Mills, Unilever, Dannon North America, Ben & Jerry’s, Kellogg, Nestle USA, New Belgium Brewing, Stonyfield Farm and Clif Bar, the letter says that climate change is “bad for farmers and for agriculture” and warned that “drought, flooding and hotter growing conditions threaten the world’s food supply and contribute to food insecurity”.

Gibson said he advocates action to curb climate change for the same reason that he supports a balanced federal budget: “So that future generations get the same choices and freedoms that we have.”

“When you look at this, this is not a Democratic or Republican issue,” Gibson said. “It is an American issue. It is a human issue. I mean, if conservation isn’t conservative, then words have no meaning at all.”

Gibson’s willingness to step forward is “not only a very big deal, it’s also a very courageous deal”, according to Whitehouse. None of the Republican presidential candidates have supported climate action. Just last week, the candidate leading in national polls, Donald Trump, reiterated on CNN: “I don’t believe in climate change.”

The opposite message was delivered by food industry executives at a Capitol Hill briefing, which was organized by the Ceres environmental coalition. Barry Parkin, chief sustainability officer at Mars, said: “We’re on a path to planet warming of more than four degrees. We’re on a path to a dangerous place.”

Paul Bakus, the president of US corporate affairs at Nestle, said at the briefing that farmers are struggling to deliver enough pumpkins to the company’s Libby brand for this year’s Thanksgiving and Christmas. “Climate is impacting our business,” he said. “We have never seen growing and harvesting conditions like this in the midwest.”

Voluntary actions by business are important, but won’t solve the climate problem, according to several food executives at the briefing. Tom Langan, a Unilever executive, said that the global food giant can meet all of its own aggressive sustainability goals and that “it won’t make a difference, by itself”. “We need governments to be involved,” Langan said.

Major food brands have for years put forward their own sustainability programs, pledging to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, deploy more renewable energy and curb deforestation. But most have been reluctant, along with the rest of industry, to speak up or lobby on behalf of climate action in Washington and state capitals. The Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan to curb emissions from power plants, for example, has not gathered much business backing. Major trade associations in Washington, led by the US Chamber of Commerce, have also fought climate action.

Ceres and its allies say a next step may be to enlist the support of big companies to neutralize those lobby groups. Just this week, Ceres organized six major US banks to sign a joint statement calling on governments to reach a global climate agreement.

Mindy Lubber, president of Ceres, said the action by the banks and the food industry, along with China’s promise to enact a cap-and-trade program to curb climate emissions, are beginning to shift the debate in the US. A survey released this week found that most Republicans believe that the climate is changing and that mankind plays some role in the change.

But given the staunch opposition to climate action among Republican party leaders, finding a pathway to congressional action will take time, Lubber acknowledged.

“It’s a long term game, for sure,” she said. “I wish it wasn’t.”

SOURCE: www.theguardian.com - http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/oct/01/congress-mars-nestle-climate-change-republicans-donald-trump

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This segment is brought to you through a partnership between the UNDP Climate Change Team at the Ministry of Environment in Lebanon and the NAHARNET team. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any party/institution.

Photo Credit: Gallo Images/Getty Images for Action/2015