KEY POINTS:
An American power company with close financial links to President George W. Bush has been named as one of the world's top producers of global warming pollution.
The first-ever worldwide database of such pollution also reveals the rapid growth in global-warming emissions by power plants in China, South Africa and India. Power plants already produce 40 per cent of the United States' greenhouse gas and 25 per cent of the world's.
But it is the enormous carbon footprint of Southern Company - among the largest financiers of Republican Party politicians - which has raised eyebrows.
Southern's employees handed Bush US$217,047 ($287,580) to help him get elected, and they and the company have contributed an extraordinary US$6.2 million to Republican campaigns since 1990.
A single Southern Company plant in Juliette, Georgia already emits more carbon dioxide annually than Brazil's entire power sector. The company is in the top two of America's dirtiest utility polluters and sixth worst in the world.
Environmentalists have long suspected Bush's dogged refusal to sign up to international agreements to control global warming was linked to campaign contributions.
Yesterday's report has finally identified the impact these power companies are having on global warming.
Southern, which earned US$14.4 billion in revenues in 2006, is using its influence to block the introduction of wind, solar, biomass and other renewable energy sources on the grounds it would eat into its profits.
Haley Barbour, one of the main lobbyists for Southern when Bush took office, played a crucial role in persuading him to back away from his original campaign promise to reduce CO2 emissions. Barbour is a former chairman of the Republican Party, and was re-elected Governor of Mississippi last week.
- Independent
