Texaco yesterday became the first major U.S. oil company to defect from the Global Climate Coalition, a business group that denies the seriousness of climate change and opposes the Kyoto Protocol. Texaco explained that it wants to speak for itself on the issues of climate change and greenhouse gas emissions, though it still does not endorse the Kyoto treaty. Texaco’s exit from the group follows a few months after Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler dropped out; Royal Dutch/Shell Group and BP Amoco have also left the GCC. Enviros are hailing the stream of defections as good news, even though most of the companies remain opposed to Kyoto. Christopher Ball of Ozone Action: “It seems like lying about global warming has finally fallen out of fashion in corporate America.”
