global warming

The Society for Environmental Journalists (SEJ), which promotes "excellence in environmental journalism," is gearing up for its annual conference in Roanoke, Virginia in mid-October. As the conference is in the "heart of coal country," numerous sessions will address "the status and future of big coal." Richard Pauli, who writes the NoEnergyTomorrow blog, notes that two of the conference's "premier sponsors” are the coal-addicted energy corporations American Electric Power and Dominion Power. "It's like seeing a Heart Association 10k race sponsored by a tobacco company," he wrote. In response, SEJ Executive Director Beth Parke stated that the corporate funding is for Virgina Tech, which will host the conference, and not directly for SEJ. Pauli noted SEJ's response, suggesting that "an improved analogy might be that of a track meet being held in a stadium that shows tobacco advertising. It may not be connected to the team, but they have to run below the sign."

In an opinion column, former Greenpeace activist turned PR consultant Patrick Moore waxes lyrical about a proposal by Luminant to build two new reactors at its Comanche Peak nuclear power station in Texas. Luminant's new reactors, he wrote, would produce "electricity from virtually carbon-free nuclear power." Moore's brief biographical note states only that he is "co-chair of the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition, a national grass-roots coalition that promotes nuclear power." What neither Moore nor the Dallas Morning News discloses to readers of the column is that he is a consultant for the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), which funds the "coalition." Luminant is a member (pdf) of the NEI. A New York Times blog post referring to Moore also fails to refer the coalition's NEI link, describing it only as a "pro-nuclear group."

A leaked draft PR plan by the Clean Coal Council, a Queensland state government partnership with the coal industry, stated that a "key outcome" would be to "turn around attitudes that clean coal is an unproven and unsafe technology." While the PR plan noted that "stakeholders" wanted investment directed to "emissions-free renewable energy technologies, not clean coal," the Council has other ideas. It ridiculed renewable energy technologies by claiming that they would only cater for "certain niche markets" and are still in the "development stages." Environmentalists dismissed the plan as government propaganda. "The Queensland Government is spending taxpayer money to fund a campaign to deceive the next generation of voters," said Simon Roz from Greenpeace Australia. Mines and Energy Minister Geoff Wilson conceded the draft plan was misleading. "I don't agree with the description of renewable energy," he said. Queensland and the neighboring state of New South Wales produce 97 percent of Australian coal production.

"The ultimate selling proposition might just be saving the planet," said International Advertising Association (IAA) executive director Michael Lee. The IAA recently met with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to discuss how marketing firms might help address global warming. Lee added that marketers can "help change consumer behavior, influence public policy and help the UN make further progress on the issue." Also present at the meeting were executives from Publicis Groupe, Interpublic Group, Omnicom, Ogilvy & Mather and Euro RSCG, among other major marketing firms. Secretary-General Ban remarked, "As climate change affects everyone, everywhere, the UN needs partners in the private sector and in civil society to mobilize and spur action." Details of the UN-marketer partnership will be revealed at COP14, the next conference on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which will be held December 2008 in Poznan, Poland.

According to documents leaked to The Guardian, the British government has been actively trying to undermine the European Union's proposals to drastically reduce carbon emissions in order to combat climate change. The UK wants to be able to count more imported carbon credits in order to meet pollution reduction targets. The Guardian reports that "The government's own calculations show the proposed change would allow Europe to emit an extra billion tonnes of CO2 from 2013-2020." The British government's efforts would raise the amount of carbon emissions "paid for" with buying credits from the developing world from about a quarter of the total to nearly half. Environmentalists are furious. Caroline Lucas, MEP and leader of the Green party, said, "The British government is trying to buy its way out of climate change targets using unreliable credits from abroad. It shows how much of the political talk on climate is empty rhetoric, when you have the UK talking up the need for action on one hand, and carrying out this kind of irresponsible climate vandalism on the other."

The UK Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change, a group hosted by the University of Cambridge's Programme for Industry, has written to British political leaders requesting a meeting to discuss the development of a "comprehensive package of policy measures to change every major sector of the economy" to combat climate change. The group argues that there is a need for a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol, which may be negotiated at the COP14 meeting in Poland in December 2008, and the COP15 meeting in Copenhagen in December 2009. Among the signatories of the letter were the CEOs of the power company E.ON UK and airport owner BAA. Greenpeace communications director Ben Stewart responded, "This is hypocrisy of the purest strain. ... If the executives of these companies want action on climate change they should immediately lock themselves in their boardrooms and not come out until the Kingsnorth [coal-fired power station] and Heathrow [airport] expansion have been dropped," he told the Guardian.

The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) has issued a news release calling on the presidential campaigns of John McCain and Barack Obama to "uphold the highest standards of ethical practice in every facet of their campaign communications." PRSA CEO Jeffrey Julin is offering himself for interviews as "a recognized expert in communications ethics." Since assuming the helm of the PRSA in January, Julin has been trying to improve the industry's ethical reputation. In June, for example, he posted a platitudinous statement on YouTube in response to a sarcastic CBS news commentary about Scott McClellan's book on his misadventures as a spokesman for the Bush administration. Julin is also president of MGA Communications, a PR firm whose clients include Americans for Balanced Energy Choices, a front group for the coal industry that is "targeting the public, politicians, interest groups, and the media" during this year's election campaign as part of what the Washington Post called a "$35 million campaign in primary and caucus states to rally public support for coal-fired electricity and to fuel opposition to legislation that Congress is crafting to slow climate change."

Patrick Moore: What doesn't exist can hurt youSammy Wilson, the Northern Ireland Minister for Environment, is an avowed climate change skeptic who claims that "there is no conclusive evidence that greenhouse gases are a major cause of climate change." While Wilson's claims are at odds with the science, former Greenpeace activist turned corporate consultant Patrick Moore supported Wilson, claiming that there are scientists on the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change who don't believe climate change is man-made, "but their views are ignored." However, as a consultant to the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition, a Nuclear Energy Institute front group, Moore recently argued for new nuclear power stations, because "the greatest threat to the earth" is "our addiction to fossil fuels and the air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions they cause." Another Wilson supporter is Tom Harris, the Executive Director of International Climate Science Coalition (ICSC) and a former executive with the High Park Group (HPG), a Canadian PR firm.

The German power corporation E.ON has suffered a humiliating defeat in its attempt to have six Greenpeace protesters convicted of criminal damage for painting a slogan on the coal-fired Kingsnorth Power Station in the United Kingdom. The six argued that they had a "lawful excuse" for their action in trying to prevent further damage to the global climate. The defendants called evidence from the world's leading climate scientist, James Hansen, who argued that there should be a moratorium on new coal-fired power stations and a phase out of existing coal-fired power stations in the absence of carbon capture and storage of emissions. E.ON currently has plans for thirteen new coal-fired power stations across Europe. In April, PR Week reported that E.ON UK had hired the PR firm Edelman to "counter opposition from green campaigners." In response to the jury's verdict E.ON UK stated that they were "surprised and disappointed" at the decision.

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a trade association of car and light truck manufacturers, has launched "EcoDriving," "a national campaign intended to empower consumers on an individual basis to reduce fuel use and CO2 emissions." The campaign will utilize social networking, events, and media outreach to "offers manufacturers an opportunity to show consumers they are part of the solution." Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the Environmental Defense Fund have all endorsed the campaign. But as CMD previously reported, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers employed PR firm Fleishman-Hillard in 2007 to oppose efforts to raise fuel mileage standards to 52 miles per gallon by 2030.