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This May, the Center for American Progress published, "Global Warming's Six Americas: An Audience Segmentation Analysis." The report ranks level of concern of US residents regarding climate change and concludes that despite the economic hardship, 90% of Americans believe the United States should act to reduce global warming, even if it has economic costs and 67% believe the US should also , reduce its greenhouse gas emissions regardless of other international response. Of interest to business folk, the report also noted that people in the United States will be showing their levels of concern with their dollars, buying low-climate-impact goods and services:

"Very large proportions of the Alarmed and the Concerned are currently or intend to begin rewarding or punishing companies that are either enacting or opposing steps to reduce global warming. Overall, 58 percent of Americans--134 million adults--intend to reward or punish companies through their product purchases in the near term. The primary barrier to this consumer action, however, is knowledge--68 percent of these consumers say they simply don't know which companies to reward or punish.

More than half (52 percent) of the Alarmed and 17 percent of the Concerned have already or intend to contact elected officials in the next 12 months to urge them to take action on global warming. This represents a large potential "issue public" waiting to be mobilized. These groups express strong support for a wide range of climate and energy policies. This is shown, for example, by their strong support for regulating CO2 as a pollutant.

The very large size of the Concerned segment--one out of three American adults--and their increasing willingness to express their concern about climate change through changes in their consumer and political behavior, suggests that the United States could be rapidly approaching an important tipping point in public engagement."

The report was crafted by Anthony Leiserowitz, Director of Yale Project on Climate Change; Edward Maibach, Director of the Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University; and Andrew Light, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and Director of the Center for Global Ethics at GMU. Read more.

The use of standardized reporting tools, such as the Global Reporting Initiative's (GRI) standards, represents a growing transparency in business. The improved disclosure, not traditionally a part of corporate governance practice, reflects businesses' desire to avoid risk and seize opportunities posed by climate change. GRI is one of many standards now commonly employed in corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting.

As of 2009, there are over 1,500 companies reporting using GRI standards . These companies, and the investors and financial institutions that invest in them, represent a collective power of $7 trillion.

Ceres, a nonprofit organization that creates tools to tie businesses' market success to ecological and social responsibility, has all the details.

http://www.ridemission.com/