The ranks of lobbyists from cleantech, green energy and investment firms have swelled in recent years but are still heavily outgunned by manufacturing and power company lobbyists, according to a report from The Center for Public Integrity.
The report, which catalogs the new players who are looking to influence “the most important environmental treaty of our time,” counts roughly 60 lobbyists from venture and investment firms in addition to 170 alternative energy and 160 environmental lobbyists.
But those numbers are a drop in the ocean of the 2,780 climate lobbyists working for all interest groups in Washington – a 400 percent increase over the numbers six years ago when Congress first considered emissions curbs, according to The Center for Public Integrity.
The numbers now include food manufacturers, such as the Campbell Soup Company and Kellogg Company, who are looking to extract emissions allowances in the process.
Meanhile, the investment and venture lobby is loooking for higher prices on carbon in the short term and predictability for the burgeoning green energy industry, themes we’ve heard before.
Will Coleman, a partner with Mohr Davidow Ventures of Menlo Park, Calif., notes that investors are looking for a climate change bill that will open up the market for new technologies.
Coleman says,
My biggest concern is that if we are less aggressive in carbon targets and carbon pricing, we may incur more costs in the future, because we’ll drive less investment into the space.
The report also notes that the natural gas lobby has been upping its profile as a relatively clean fossil fuel that can be a bridge fuel for a low carbon economy.
We have noted in the past the efforts by Exxon and BP to rebrand the fuel as the most realistic and cost-effective solution for America’s energy needs. The Center for Public Integrity report finds that the rest of the industry has upped the pressure on senators after having “missed out” on influencing the Waxman-Markey bill.