U.S. Firms Decry Being Left Out of Kyoto Pact

A coalition of U.S. manufacturers and energy producers said they will be harmed when the Kyoto agreement on global warming is adopted by other nations while the Bush administration and Congress refuse to participate.

U.S. companies will lose out to foreign competitors that gain expertise and market share in energy-reducing technologies, and may face trade sanctions against U.S. exports that are made at higher-polluting factories, according to the Business Council for Sustainable Energy, whose 37 members include Honeywell International Inc., Maytag Corp. and Covanta Energy Corp.

Since federal regulation of carbon dioxide emissions is inevitable, the U.S. government is not doing U.S. companies a favor by keeping them outside the worldwide emissions trading system that may be adopted with the Kyoto accord this year, said the council’s president, Michael Marvin.

The business council’s stance is at variance with other business groups, such as the Chamber of Commerce, that oppose U.S. participation in the Kyoto accord.