Harrison Ford Spearheads Push by U.S. Groups for Climate Action

(Bloomberg) -- Harrison Ford joined a growing list of celebrities and U.S. officials seeking to draw attention to efforts to combat climate change.

The film star’s appearance is meant to remind envoys from almost 200 countries at a round of United Nations talks that President Donald Trump isn’t the only voice shaping environment policy in the U.S.

“Like many of you here today, I have felt despair for the state of the world,” Ford said. “People are scared and angry, and they have right to be.”

Meters away from the official U.S. State Department offices at the COP25 conference venue, Ford joined Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, and Democratic presidential contender Michael Bloomberg. They were promoting America’s Pledge, a group of business leaders, and U.S. states and cities working to show they can rein in carbon emissions even without Trump’s involvement.

“Changes in climate policies, new technologies and growing physical risks will prompt reassessments of the values of virtually every financial asset,” Carney said. “Firms that align their business models with the transition to net zero will be rewarded handsomely. Those that fail to adapt will cease to exist.”

The group estimates that if businesses moved ahead with climate policy, the U.S. could slash greenhouse gas pollution 37% from 2005 levels by 2030. By comparison, the U.S. could achieve a 49% cut if the federal government backed more vigorous action.

Ford’s appearance is the latest in what has been a star-studded event in Madrid. Antonio Banderas, Javier Bardem and Spanish singer Alejandro Sanz loaned their voices to the climate movement over the past few days.

Some of the usual marquis names also have appeared in Madrid, including former Democratic presidential contenders Al Gore, and John Kerry. The biggest draw by far has been the 16-year-old Greta Thunberg, who was mobbed my onlookers as she arrived in Madrid last week.

Joan Roca, one of the owners of El Celler de Can Roca Restaurant, was here on the first week too. The restaurant has three Michelin stars and has been named best restaurant in the world twice.

The appearances of those personalities is far removed from the reality of meeting, where hundreds of envoys huddle in negotiating rooms to work on a deal about how carbon markets can be used to comply with the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.

(Michael Bloomberg, the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News, has committed $500 million to launch Beyond Carbon, a campaign aimed at closing the remaining coal-powered plants in the U.S. by 2030 and slowing the construction of new gas plants.)

To contact the reporters on this story: Jeremy Hodges in London at jhodges17@bloomberg.net;Laura Millan Lombrana in Santiago at lmillan4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net, Andrew Reierson, Lars Paulsson

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