Introduction

In many ways the actions of large industries will determine for decades to come the timing, nature and volume of global greenhouse gas emissions (Schwartz et al. 1992). According to the Business Council for Sustainable Development's figures, ‘Industry accounts for more than one third of energy consumed world-wide and uses more energy than any other end-user in industrialised and newly industrialising economies’ (Schmidheiny 1992:43). The success of government efforts to forestall the threat of climate change will therefore depend on cooperation with industry. As Levy (1997:56) puts it, ‘if an agreement cannot be crafted that gains the consent of major affected industries, there will likely be no agreement at all’. This fact alone makes analysis of the role of industry in climate politics pertinent.