American Petroleum Institute President and CEO Jack Gerard on Friday (12/18) said the oil industry agrees with President Barack Obama on the importance of addressing global climate change, but suggested the steps being taken by Congress and the administration were wrong because they would destroy jobs.

Gerard expressed those views in a news release in response to President Obama’s speech on Friday at the U.N. summit on climate change in Copenhagen.

The president urged a climate deal on cutting greenhouse emissions by the world’s biggest polluters, but no agreement has come through as China continues to object to a monitoring system for GHG emissions.

A draft agreement being considered has introduced GHG emissions targets for both industrialized and developing countries. The document says rich countries should reduce their GHG emissions by at least 80 percent by the year 2050. The draft also reinstates a December 2010 deadline for when world leaders should adopt a legally binding treaty on fighting global warming.

In his statement, Gerard charged that, “Congress’s leading proposals could destroy millions of jobs, drive up fuel prices, and, by shifting much of our refining capacity abroad (along with refinery greenhouse gas emissions), substantially increase our reliance on foreign supplies of gasoline, diesel and other petroleum fuels. Worse, the president’s own EPA is poised to issue an expansive regimen of climate regulations that could cripple business growth and job creation, dimming employment hopes for 15 million now out-of-work Americans.”

He said the U.S. oil and natural gas industry’s leading role developing green technology has often being overlooked. Between 2000 and 2008, he said, the industry invested more than $58 billion in GHG mitigation projects, more than either the federal government or the rest of the private sector combined.

“These investments will pay off in emission reductions as they already have in new jobs,” he said. “Public support for government climate change proposals has waned. It’s time for all stakeholders to come together to craft a fair, efficient, market-based climate change strategy that minimizes the burden on consumers and jobs.”