WASHINGTON (November 19, 2008) -- Ceres has joined with five leading U.S. corporations - Levi Strauss & Co., Nike, Starbucks, Sun Microsystems and The Timberland Company - to announce the launch of a new business coalition, Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy (BICEP), calling for strong U.S. climate and energy legislation in early 2009. . The group’s key principles include stimulating renewable energy, promoting energy efficiency and green jobs, requiring 100-percent auction of carbon allowances and limiting new coal-fired power plants to those that capture and store carbon emissions.

 

“The companies involved in BICEP are ahead of the curve from both a business and environmental perspective. A national limit on global warming pollution is coming. The companies that anticipate and help shape the limit will have a competitive advantage over those who refuse to move forward.

 

“We applaud Ceres and its partners, Nike, Starbucks, Levi-Strauss, Sun-Microsystems, and The Timberland Company for coming together and pushing for clean energy and global warming solutions. BICEP reflects the growing recognition that businesses have a critical role to play in the fight against global warming.

“BICEP recognizes the grave threat global warming poses and they have jumped into the fray with a serious contribution. The group’s principles are very ambitious and combine an understanding of just how serious this problem is with the recognition that we have solutions we need to take off the shelf and use in our cars, home, and power plants.”