BulletProofBlog the blog on crisis communications

Last month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued an endangerment finding that classifies greenhouse gases as a threat to public health - a move that paves the way for the federal government to regulate the emission of such gases for the first time in American history.

While many still question the science behind global warming and how greenhouse gases contribute to it, perception is reality. The widespread belief that greenhouse gas emissions are damaging our natural environment has given regulators, Congress, and the President himself a green light to move forward with rulemakings and legislation that many business leaders have dreaded for years.

But rather than engage in an all-out campaign against the conventional wisdom driving government action (a campaign that would almost certainly backfire), business leaders - in the energy sector especially - would be better served to take a seat at the table and participate as fully as possible in the writing of the new regulations that will govern their industries.

By working with the government to develop solutions that make the best use of carbon-based fuels in the short term and alternative energies and cleaner technologies in the long term, oil and gas companies, non-nuclear utilities, and other significant producers of greenhouse gases can achieve two important goals.

First, they can begin to shape the perception that they are becoming part of the solution, rather than part of the problem. And second, they can strengthen their case for a less burdensome regulatory framework - because the public will begin to see current carbon-burning approaches as a necessary bridge to alternative and cleaner technologies, rather than an obstacle to their eventual implementation.

The lesson here is simple: Don' t fight the tide that has been rising for more than three decades and is just now reaching its high water mark. Instead, cooperate and participate in the process - because that' s the best way to simultaneously protect both the corporate reputation and the bottom line at a time when significant change is inevitable.