U.S. companies invest in Kyoto credits

WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- U.S. companies are starting to try to reduce greenhouse gases to earn pollution credits under the Kyoto Protocol, a former Interior Department official said.

David Hayes, former deputy interior secretary spoke Friday at a news briefing with Robert Sussman, a former Environmental Protection Agency staffer, and Robert Wyman, a lawyer from Latham and Watkins, to announce what companies represented by the firm are doing to meet Kyoto standards.

Countries earn credits by investing in emission-reduction programs in developing countries, in developed countries with a Kyoto target reduction, or by buying and selling credits among themselves.

Multinational U.S. companies must take part in these programs, because they work in countries that adhere to the protocol. Others are starting to reduce pollutants in an effort to keep the U.S. government from creating mandatory caps on emissions and to establish emission credits while they are still "cheap," Hayes said.