Boxy but Good

Greenpeace and the small London-based group Families Against Bush are using consumer pressure to try to embarrass corporations into supporting the Kyoto treaty on climate change. Earlier this summer, the groups put the heat on Ford by highlighting a rift between the U.S. automaker and its Swedish subsidiary Volvo. Volvo publicly supports Kyoto; Ford does not. A Ford official who asked to remain anonymous said the company is now gauging whether consumers are growing more concerned about climate change. Another example: Coke, like Ford, belongs to the U.S. Council for International Business, which opposes Kyoto. But Coke's subsidiary in Spain has endorsed the treaty. Pedro Antonio Garcia, from the Spanish subsidiary, said, "You cannot operate if you are against the Kyoto Protocol in a European context. It's the price of entry."