GM pushes Obama, Congress to act on Climate Declaration

General Motors called for the White House to ratchet up regulations to rein in climate change, saying new global laws would be good for all business.

“We want to be a change agent in the auto industry,” said Mike Robinson, GM’s vice president of sustainability and global regulatory affairs said, in a statement published by The Guardian.

GM is one of 40 businesses to sign onto the Climate Declaration, an agreement launched in Washington, D.C., in March, on the heels of Hurricane Sandy. The aim of the resolution is to push new climate controls through Congress and ultimately, around the globe.

The declaration reads, in part: “Tackling climate change is America’s greatest economic opportunity of the 21st century (and it’s simply the right thing to do).” It calls for a “coordinated effort” to fight climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emission levels, but leaves the specifics of this effort to regulators and politicos to decide.

The sustainable business network Ceres said the declaration would prove helpful in politicians to act, in that it would provide congressional members the public relations backing they needed to finally act on the controversial matter, The Guardian reported.