The Sky is Not the Limit: - Carbon Trade Watch

However, over the years,Greenpeace’s critique of emissionstrading and the role of industry hasfaded into the background, as it hassince focused almost exclusively onKyoto ratification and campaignsagainst corporations still opposed tothe treaty such as ExxonMobil. 14 At itsrecent launch of the Choose PositiveEnergy campaign, the headlinespeaker was none other than formerShell boss and head of the corporatelobby group Business Action forSustainable Development (BASD),Mark Moody Stuart. 15Greenpeace also controversially allieditself publicly with the World BusinessCouncil for Sustainable Developmentat the Johannesburg Rio +10summit. 16 The two former adversariesannounced that they were “shelvingtheir differences” and called uponleaders to take action on climatechange. Soon after, the WBCSDclarified to the press that it did notnecessarily mean that the businessgroup was calling for Kyoto ratification,contradicting Greenpeace’s assertionsthat it was. 17Greenpeace’s increasingly mutedopposition to emissions trading and itstacit and active endorsement ofcompanies that support the KyotoProtocol has been a major ideologicalvictory for sophisticated corporatelobby groups such as the WBCSD,and has paved the way for furtherexpansion and development of themarket-based mechanisms.Many image conscious corporationsseek to show off their environmentalcredentials and thereby allay publicconcern by teaming up with a trustedmajor environmnental brand such asWWF or Greenpeace. In turn thesegroups feel they can exercise greaterleverage over a company’s behaviour.However at what cost?38