ConocoPhillips backs curbs on emissions

ConocoPhillips on Wednesday became the first major U.S. oil company to join a corporate/environmental coalition urging Congress to require limits on greenhouse gases tied to global warming.

The decision could give the Houston-based company an important voice in helping to guide legislation that might alter the way the industry produces fuel -- and almost certainly make that production more costly, analysts say.

ConocoPhillips became the newest member of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, an alliance of big business and environmental groups that in January told President Bush that mandatory emissions caps were needed to reduce the flow of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere.

Other companies that belong to the partnership include the American arm of London-based oil major BP and General Electric Co., the U.S. industrial products and media conglomerate.

“We recognize that human activity, including the burning of fossil fuels, is contributing to increased concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that can lead to adverse changes in global climate,” said Jim Mulva, ConocoPhillips’ chief executive.

Mulva said the company was allocating “significantly more resources” to help develop alternative and renewable sources of energy and was committed to reducing emissions at its plants. ConocoPhillips has said it would spend $150 million this year to research and develop new energy sources and technologies -- a 50% increase in spending from 2006.

Mulva’s call for mandatory limits on greenhouse gases is an abrupt departure from his views on the issue as recently as January. Mulva acknowledged at the time that all types of efficient energy sources were needed but said market forces and consumer preferences, not federal requirements, should determine how they’re used.

“We believe very strongly the best way of meeting those metrics is to determine what they are and then let the industry ... come up with the resources and plans to meet those, [rather] than have mandates saying specifically, ‘You have to do it this way and that,’ ” he said.

ConocoPhillips shares fell 22 cents to $69.23.