6000 Companies Speak Out: Business Demand Growing Rapidly for Senate, White House Leadership on Climate/Clean Energy Legislation

Highest Tally So Far in Growing Business Call for Obama, Senate Action on Climate;  Top 20 States Are: CA; MI; TX; NY; FL; IL; WA; OH; NC; PA; NJ; GA; MA; VA; MN; CO; IN; CT; MO and MD.

WASHINGTON, May 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- America's employers are turning up the heat on Congress and the White House.  More than 6,000 large and small businesses across the United States are now calling on Congress to enact clean energy and climate legislation, according to a new tally compiled by American Businesses for Clean Energy (ABCE) and released today by ABCE and the We Can Lead campaign.

The new analysis from ABCE (http://www.ABCE.us) shows that more than 6,000 companies are asking the Senate and the Obama White House for climate and clean energy leadership.  These businesses represent:

• An estimated 3.5 million U.S. employees.
• Total market capitalization exceeding $2.6 trillion.
• $3.5 trillion in estimated revenue in 2009.
• 21 Fortune 100 companies and 49 Fortune 500 companies.

Christopher Van Atten, spokesperson, ABCE said: "This unprecedented outpouring of business support for real leadership from the White House and U.S. Senate on clean energy and climate should be a wake-up call for elected officials in Washington.  Thousands of American businesses are saying that they want action on climate and clean energy … and they want that action now.   What unites all of these businesses is a shared agreement on the wisdom of comprehensive clean energy legislation that will create jobs, unleash innovation and make our nation more secure, while cutting greenhouse gas emissions."

"A clear market based price signal that rewards clean energy innovation is key for companies across the country to accelerate our transition to a sustainable clean energy economy," said Tim Greeff, political director, Clean Economy Network and co-manager of the We Can Lead Campaign.  "Leadership by the Administration and Senate is critical to our success in unleashing investment for new energy technologies that will create new American jobs."

TOP 20 STATES

The top 20 states in terms of number of employees and companies are:  California (417,876 employees and  161 companies); Michigan (251,802 employees and  195 companies); Texas (249,828 employees and 94 companies); New York (196,315 employees and 103 companies);  Florida (175,757 employees and  2,413 companies);  Illinois (147,392 employees and 82 companies);  Washington state (139,265 employees and 260 companies); Ohio (135,689 employees and 119 companies);  North Carolina (119,160 employees and  95 companies); Pennsylvania (110,263 employees and 108 companies);  New Jersey (105,087 employees and 76 companies);  Georgia (96,954 employees and 65 companies);  Massachusetts (88,041 employees and 101 companies); Virginia (87,401 employees and 1,187 companies);  Minnesota (79,792 employees and  61 companies);  Colorado (78,738 employees and 147 companies);  Indiana (75,482 employees and  85 companies); Connecticut (64,483 employees and 60 companies);  Missouri (63,962 employees and 148 companies);  and Maryland (60,396 employees and 71 companies).

The companies involved range from some of America's largest – including Target, Bank of America, Boeing, Gap Inc., General Electric, Ford Motor Company, IBM, Starbucks, United Technologies – to "mom and pop" Main Street retailers.

For full details, see the report at http://www.ABCE.us.

The 6,000 companies tracked by ABCE are part of the following organizations or joint initiatives:  (1) American Businesses for Clean Energy (ABCE); (2) We Can Lead; (3) Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy (BICEP); (4) U.S. Climate Action Partnership; (5) Signatories to the American Leadership Ad (Leadership Ad); (6) the Business Environmental Leadership Council (BELC); (7) The Clean Energy Group's Clean Air Policy Initiative (CAPI); and (8) signatories to two open letters to the U.S. Senate.

Many companies have participated in more than one of these initiatives; however, each company was only counted once for the purposes of ABCE's calculations.

The primary data source used by ABCE for both employment estimates and revenue figures was the Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) Hoover's Database.  The Hoover's database has information on more than 65 million corporations and organizations, including employees by office or facility location. U.S. employee figures were also obtained by contacting companies directly and from on-line financial reports.  To the extent that the Hoover's database unrepresented the company's own employee figures, company reported U.S. totals were apportioned among the locations identified in the Hoover's database.

Employment counts for small businesses, not listed in the Hoover's database, were estimated based on the employment ranges reported to the American Businesses for Clean Energy (ABCE) upon registration.  For example, companies reporting less than 10 employees were assumed to have four employees in the state where the company listed its primary address. Revenue estimates were obtained from the Hoover's database.  To preserve the integrity of the count, the smallest businesses were excluded from the tally because of a lack of available data.

ABOUT THE GROUPS

ABCE is a broad umbrella organization that shows the breadth of business support for clean energy and climate legislation. ABCE will not develop detailed policy recommendations or evaluate specific proposals since existing business coalitions already address those needs. The ABCE initiative is open to any company or business association that supports Congressional action to pass effective climate and energy legislation now. By joining the initiative, these companies are making a public statement urging Congress to act.  To learn more about American Businesses for Clean Energy and to pledge support for clean energy legislation, please visit: http://www.AmericanBusinessesforCleanEnergy.org.

We Can Lead is a nationwide coalition of 1,000 business leaders—innovators, entrepreneurs, investors, manufacturers and energy providers from states across the country who support comprehensive, forward-looking energy and climate policies in the United States.  The network includes small and medium sized companies to large-scale energy providers, Fortune 500 companies and leading consumer-facing brands. We Can Lead is a project of the Clean Economy Network and Ceres' Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy (BICEP).  For more on We Can Lead, visit www.wecanlead.org or follow us on twitter @wecanlead.

EDITOR'S NOTE:  A streaming audio recording of this news event will be available on the Web as of 5 p.m. EDT on May 19, 2010 at http://www.ABCE.us and www.wecanlead.org.

SOURCE American Businesses for Clean Energy and We Can Lead campaign