General Motors Leaves Global Warming Skeptics
New York, New York, March 14, 2000

Today religious shareholders of General Motors celebrated the company's decision to leave the Global Climate Coalition (GCC). The GCC is a coalition that has historically questioned the existence of global warming and opposes the emerging international treaty to stop the problem. GM's withdrawal from the GCC comes after similar withdrawals by the company's competitors, Ford Motor Company and Daimler-Chrysler. GCC membership has been a critical issue in dialogues between members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) and corporations in the oil, automotive and utility industries.

The company's position has been that there is enough concern to take actions to address global greenhouse gas emissions and the risk from potential change. Sister Patricia Daly, OP, ICCR member, executive director of the Tri-State Coalition for Responsible Investment, and Dominican Sister of Caldwell, NJ said that, "Corporate responsibility on this issue is incompatible with membership in the Global Climate Coalition. We're pleased that GM has addressed this inconsistency and look forward to the company's continued pursuit of more energy efficient technologies."

ICCR is a coalition of a coalition of nearly 300 faith-based institutional investors representing over $100 billion in invested capital. For almost thirty years the group has used its investments to file shareholder resolutions urging greater corporate responsibility on issues ranging from Apartheid and sweat-shops to food safety and ecological concerns. This year, ICCR has sponsored 145 resolutions to 112 corporations. Ariane Van Buren, Director of the Energy and Environment Program for ICCR explained the shareholders' focus on global warming by noting that, "Global warming is the greatest environmental threat facing our planet today. Religious shareholders are committed to the long haul - however long it takes - to get companies to stop lying about their responsibility for global warming."

In the last four months, five major corporations that ICCR has been working with have resigned from the GCC. Since December 1999, Texaco and The Southern Company (the second largest power company in the United States), in addition to Ford and Daimler-Chrysler, have left the coalition following dialogues with the religious shareholders. Members of the GCC contributed more than $63 million dollars from 1988-1998 to various federal candidates and national parties. (Common Cause - "Some Like it Hot" 11/30/99) After GM's departure, there are no remaining auto manufacturers left in the coalition.

Sister Daly said, "As the impacts of global warming worsen, it will take increasing moral maturity on the part of our corporations and country to rise to the challenge. General Motors' departure from the global warming skeptics is a step towards achieving this maturity."