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5th April 2001 LETTER TO US CORPORATIONS Dear CEO We are writing to you regarding the withdrawal of the United States of America from the Kyoto Protocol as announced recently by President George W. Bush and officials from his Administration. We would like to know where your Corporation stands on this vital, global issue. We ask that you answer the following questions: Does your company support the ratification and entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol? Does your company support President Bush in his opposition to this Protocol? Will your company support or oppose the efforts of other countries to bring the Kyoto Protocol into force without the USA? Does your company accept the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as the scientific basis for action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, particularly carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of coal, oil, and gas? Greenpeace believes that the ratification and implementation of the Kyoto Protocol is an essential, but minimal, first step towards the prevention of dangerous climate change, which is the ultimate objective of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The USA has ratified the UNFCCC and is hence legally bound by its objectives. The USA supported the negotiation of the Kyoto Protocol as "a matter of urgency". The world community is aiming to get the Kyoto Protocol ratified and in force by the Rio+10 Earth Summit in September of 2002. This can be done, if necessary, without ratification by the United States. As you are no doubt aware the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has found that "there is new and stronger evidence that most of the observed warming over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities" and that "there is high confidence that recent regional changes in temperature have had discernible impacts on many physical and biological systems". Greenpeace believes that consumers around the world want to know where your company stands on these questions, in order that their opinions can be fully informed when they exercise their options via the marketplace. In the public interest, we request your response to these questions within one week of the date of this letter -12th April 2001, so we can inform our supporters of your response. Yours sincerely Gerd Leipold John Passacantando
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