British Executives Bring Message On Climate Change From a Prince

Members of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming heard from Britain's future king yesterday, when Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), the House panel's chairman, read excerpts from a letter from Prince Charles, who happens to head a British business coalition known as the Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change.

Two corporate executives who belong to the alliance journeyed from London to testify before the select committee: Prince Charles helped ease the way by sending along a letter informing U.S. lawmakers that, when it comes to mustering support for a cap on greenhouse gases, these executives are "playing a highly strategic role -- essentially helping to create a political space in which effective policies can be introduced and global progress can be achieved."

F&C Asset Management chief executive Alain Grisay told the panel that a mandatory carbon cap would yield business opportunities for some innovative entrepreneurs, without damaging the overall economy significantly.

"My message is simple: Business and investors can only play their part in tackling climate change if government takes decisive action to make this possible," Grisay said.

Although the panel's Republicans did not offer a reaction to Prince Charles's latest foray into the climate-change debate, Markey welcomed it.

"Prince Charles is giving global warming and energy the royal treatment, and the planet would benefit if Congress and the Bush administration did the same," he said.

-- Juliet Eilperin