The Monroe Street Journal

Issue date: 3/18/08 Section: Features

Media Credit: Annie Barton [Click to enlarge]

It's not often that you go to an environmental conference where the majority of participants claim not to be environmentalists and where the only actual environmental activist gets escorted promptly off of the property. Then again, the Wall Street Journal's ECO:nomics Conference was not just any gathering; top executives, venture capitalists, and entrepreneurs from around the world came together to discuss the ability of business to create environmental capital. But while the theme of the conference was how and why businesses go green, the focus was really on two interrelated issues: climate change and the market shift to renewable energy. Given the fact that all three candidates who remain in the presidential race advocate some sort of carbon cap and trade legislation, these executives came to discover how to deal with the opportunities and challenges that will come with what most say is an inevitable policy with broad implications.

The event began with Jeff Immelt, CEO of General Electric, defending his "green" business practices to a room full of interested executives and a handful of free-market skeptics. In the audience was Lee Scott, CEO of Wal-Mart, who praised Mr. Immelt for his progressive stance on sustainability and renewable energy. Also in the audience were several members of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a right-wing think tank, who were quick to scold Mr. Immelt-and almost every other speaker-on their support of a cap and trade regulatory system for green house gas emissions. It didn't take long to realize, however, that the majority of the audience was not there to debate the science behind global warming or the business logic of addressing it. This became evident when Mr. Immelt got visibly angry at the criticism of the CEI contingent and proclaimed "Look, I do not need to be lectured on how to be competitive." Even Bob Lutz, the CEO of GM notorious for his belief that climate change is bunk, put his personal beliefs aside and touted the measures that GM is taking to increase the fuel efficiency of its vehicle fleet.

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