11:149. This is basically the ratio of pro- and anti-climate legislation lobbying expenditures in 2009. The oil and gas industry put in $175 million. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce put in $123.3 million. And pro-environmental groups put in $22.4 million.
ExxonMobil, alone, spent more money on lobbying than all pro-environmental groups spent in total, $27.4 million.
This creates quite to challenge for getting meaningful climate legislation passed in the U.S.
“The question is how can we weaken Goliath – think fossil fuel industry – and strengthen David – think environmental groups. Specifically, how can we find and motivate a trillion dollars to support David in his push for the comprehensive climate legislation needed to save our planet,” Climate Counts writes. “The answer is rather simple; spend your money with companies that support comprehensive climate legislation and tell them you care about the actions they’re taking.”
Companies Worth Trillions of Dollars Want Comprehensive Climate Change Legislation
If you take a look at Climate Counts’ recent scoring of 150 major companies, you’ll see that 25 companies scored 7 or higher on their climate change policy stance. These companies, in total, receive over a trillion dollars in revenue a year.
Climate Counts recommends saying Thank You to these climate leaders this year, encouraging them to continue on with the climate change fight and leverage more of their money to support it. You can easily say Thank You by clicking on the links in the table below.
If we share our gratitude with companies taking strong public policy stances and encourage them to use their power to elevate the national and international importance of climate action, the fable of David vs. Goliath will remain just that — a fable, not our future.
Company name – Just click and send them a message of your choice! Policy Stance out of 10 points Total ClimateCounts.orgScore Nike 10 87 Stonyfield Farm 10 83 Timberland* 9 82 Clif Bar* 9 67 Ben & Jerry’s* 8 71 9 53 Hewlett-Packard 9 85 PepsiCo 9 66 Deutsche Post DHL 8 74 eBay 8 58 FedEx 8 58 Levi Strauss 8 61 L’Oreal 8 76 Marriott 8 62 Samsung 8 65 Siemens 8 76 Starbucks 8 54 The Coca-Cola Co. 8 67 Unilever 8 83 Amtrak* 7 62 Apple 7 61 Gap Inc. 7 52 General Electric 7 78 News Corporation 7 69 Nokia 7 76 * These four companies are among the charter members of the voluntary Climate Counts Industry Innovator Program, which launched in February 2010.
Image Credit: Climate Counts