"whilst accepting the need to tackle climate change, [it] has actively opposed attempts to use economic instruments to alter the price of carbon to reflect its environmental damage - primarily the climate change levy [CCL], and the fuel duty escalator. The CBI have been accused of only representing the interests of its heavy industry members in such lobbying and criticised for not balloting its members on opposition to the CCL." 29

Then in December concerns were raised when the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) began lobbying governments against the implementation of the "precautionary approach" to environmental issues. "In evaluating the potential environmental or health effects of new products, governments should guard against an excessively precautionary approach that may stifle trade, economic development and technological progress" said the ICC. 30

The statement was issued against the background of growing business concern at such moves as the European Union's restrictions on hormone-treated beef and the campaign against genetically-modified food that has kept food aid out of famine-stricken regions of Africa. The ICC statement on "Precaution, Science, Risk and Trade" said: "The responsibility remains with governments to ensure that precautionary risk-management measures they take in circumstances of uncertainty involve scientifically substantiated threats to health or the environment." 31

Further questions were raised about corporate influence over US government policy when in December, The Guardian reported that vice-president Dick Cheney personally intervened to block a global deal to provide cheap drugs to financially poor countries. 32 Faced with opposition from all the other 140 members of the World Trade Organisation, the US refused to relax global patent laws that presently place the price of drugs beyond reach of most 'developing' countries. While trade envoys said that the negotiations were likely to resume in 2003, failure to reach an agreement on cheap drugs could collapse the entire WTO Doha agreement, which covers everything from cutting farm subsidies to introducing more competition in service industries. The paper noted that America's drug industry lobbied the White House to impose the narrowest possible interpretation of the Doha declaration, thus restricting any deal only to drugs to treat HIV/Aids, malaria, TB and a shortlist of other diseases unique to Africa.

That some corporations' lobbying activities run counter to the spirit and letter of their espousals on social and environmental responsibility was an issue raised in 1999 by the JANUS project. This developed a toolkit to help companies and/or trade associations analyse the misalignment between their corporate citizenship and lobbying positions, look for risks and opportunities within this and thus realign. At the time there was limited interest from companies. 33 However, one person involved in that work, Jules Peck, told the JCC that during 2002 leading companies were "showing signs of discontent with trade associations that do not adequately represent their interests. For many pioneering companies, environmental regulation or economic instruments would reinforce their competitive position by pushing other companies to internalise more of their environmental costs." Now at the WorldWide Fund for Nature UK, Peck indicated that many NGOs will be engaging each other and the private sector on the question of responsible corporate lobbying.

One of those companies that was breaking ranks with the party line of many trade associations on government intervention for sustainable development was BP. Their CEO John Browne said "we need the help of governments to establish the appropriate framework of incentives to move toward climate stabilisation." 34 Earlier in the year, their rival Shell said the UK government had not helped in making more renewables possible, by providing the necessary incentives and disincentives to shift consumption and production. 35 The Chairman of Shell UK, Clive Mather, stated in December at a meeting of the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) that his biggest worry with corporate citizenship was that much was not possible due to the short-termism of financial analysts.

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