Good news week continues: a new pro-climate business coalition

Looks like it's Good News Week for the climate movement!

On Tuesday, President-elect Obama delivered a remarkable statement by video to the Governors' Global Climate Summit in Los Angeles (read Gillian's take on it here). We also had a wildly successful national day of action on Tuesday, about which you can read more -- and share your own stories -- on this roundup thread.

Then yesterday, we learned of Henry Waxman's successful bid to become Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, ousting long-time chair John Dingell. For the proverbial cherry on top, Senator Barbara Boxer (Chair of the Committee on Environment and Public Works) announced she'll introduce two major pieces of climate legislation next year. This is all on top of the de-facto moratorium on new coal power plants handed down by an EPA board last week. All in all, a pretty good week-plus.

Tired of all the good news? Too bad, because there's more: This week, Ceres announced the formation of a new business coalition that will call for bold climate legislation next year. You might recognize the names of the companies involved:

Five leading U.S. corporations joined with Ceres today to announce the launch of a new business coalition calling for strong U.S. climate and energy legislation in early 2009 to spur the clean energy economy and reduce global warming pollution. The group’s key principles include stimulating renewable energy, promoting energy efficiency and green jobs, requiring 100 percent auction of carbon allowances, and limiting new coal-fired power plants to those that capture and store carbon emissions.

The founding members of Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy (BICEP) are Levi Strauss & Co., Nike, Starbucks, Sun Microsystems and The Timberland Company.

BICEP members believe that climate change impacts will ripple across all sectors of the economy and that various new business perspectives are needed to provide a full spectrum of viewpoints for solving the climate and energy challenges facing America.

Sticking with the Sundae metaphor, would this be the whipped cream? The chocolate sauce? Doesn't matter. The point is that all your hard work and committment to the climate movement are starting to pay off, in Washington and beyond. So pat yourself on the back, but not too hard or too long--we're not there yet, but we're on our way!