Leading utility companies urge action to reverse unsustainable trends

Today, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), along with eight of the world’s leading electric utility companies, released Powering a Sustainable Future( 1.4 MB), a report which contains an “agenda for concerted action” to secure future electricity generation, to bring more power to more people and to decrease the industry’s greenhouse gas emissions. The eight companies warn that unless there is a marked shift in the way electricity is generated and regulated worldwide, increased energy production will have serious environmental impacts.

“With explosive population growth and development, economies are growing ever more dependent on electricity”, said WBCSD President Bjorn Stigson. “That should be good news for the head of an electric power company, but the CEOs who have signed this new report are getting very concerned. Today , the power sector generates 40 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions from fuel combustion, and these emissions are rising quickly.”

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