Thursday, October 29, 2009 | CBC News - Money

By Don Pittis

Here's a pop news quiz. Who said: Legislation to fight global warming will spur innovation, create jobs, and give us all a good chance of survival?

Or how about: Without a stable climate there will be no business.

For a while recently, a lot of people thought it was the United States Chamber of Commerce, whose president came to Toronto this week. And what a PR coup it would have been if this defender of corporate America had actually said it!

But of course, it didn't.

It was the Yes Men who made the statements, posing as the Chamber of Commerce. It was all a big joke. They're the same gang of guerilla activists who posed as Dow Chemical spokesmen, declaring in 2004 that the company felt terrible about the damage the company had done in the Bhopal disaster, and that it would sell off Union Carbide to make restitution. Even after Dow Chemical's denial, bad publicity knocked billions off its share price.

This time, the Yes Men actually made it to air live from Washington's National Press Gallery. Even Fox News quoted them, to the network's eternal regret. The real Chamber of Commerce made it to air, too, as you can see on any number of YouTube videos. They stormed in to declare the Yes Men statements a fraud.

Why is it that commercial and environmental interests seem so opposed in today's economy?

I was chatting with Toby Heaps, the Canadian founder of the magazine Corporate Knights. We both noticed that many of our business friends are very environmentally oriented in their personal lives and even worried about what climate change means for their children and grandchildren. In their corporate roles, however, they have trouble taking a strong environmental line.

Corporate Knights tries to bridge the gap between business and environmentalism. The magazine is a business success in its own right, with an expansion into the Washington D.C. market scheduled for January. With a foot in both worlds, Heaps understands why groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce won't support global warming legislation. It's the same reason the Council of Canadian Chief Executives pussyfoots around the issue.

'Industry associations tend to represent the lowest common denominator of the companies in their membership.'—Brian Kelly, Schulich School of Business

"There will be some real losers from climate change legislation," says Heaps, "but a lot of winners too."