Without the private sector, the fight against global warming risks being in vain. Barack Obama has understood this and rallied some of the world's most influential multinationals.
None of them have their hands dirty with coal, oil or natural gas, yet the multinationals that accepted United States President Barack Obama's invitation to commit actively to fighting climate change are among the most influential in the world, with combined profits of $1.3 trillion in 2014 alone.
Thirteen companies, including Apple, Google, as well as General Motors and Bank of America, pledged on Monday 27 July in the presence of Secretary of State John Kerry to invest up to $140 billion (approximately €126.5 billion) to halt global warming and combat climate change ahead of the crucial meeting at the United Nations conference (Cop 21) in December, in Paris, France. To do so, they will need to cut CO2 emissions, reduce water consumption and rapidly increase the production and consumption of electricity from renewable sources. The stated joint target is to reach a production capacity of 1,600 megawatts, enough to cover the energy needs of 1.3 million homes.
Although none of the companies is directly involved in the production of fossil fuels, many of them produce large quantities of CO2 and consume a great deal of energy. Among them is Alcoa, one of the world's largest aluminium producers, which has pledged to halve its CO2 emissions by 2025 compared with levels recorded in 2005.
Also among them are two controversial and competing multinationals: Coca-Cola, which has pledged to reduce its carbon footprint by 25 per cent over the next five years, and Pepsico.
Obama is doing everything he can to arrive at the Paris conference as a leader and to try to lay such solid foundations around the issue that tackling climate change becomes the most important legacy of his eight years in office. The agreement is called the American business act on climate pledge and has been signed by Alcoa, Apple, Bank of America, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Cargill, Coca-Cola, General Motors, Goldman Sachs, Google, Microsoft, Pepsico, Ups and Walmart. A second round is already planned for the autumn, to make the package of committed companies even more influential.