Business leaders join forces to urge Blair to curb CO2
Thu 06 July 2006
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Leaders of thirteen of the UK's top businesses - including Shell, Tesco and BAA - have met with Prime Minister Blair to urge the Government to take tougher action on climate change.
The group, which also includes Vodafone, B&Q and Standard Chartered Bank, said that they believe that stricter controls on carbon dioxide emissions would encourage innovation and give British business an edge in key areas of new technology. They called for tougher regulations on low-energy homes and products.
The business leaders believe strict carbon reduction targets under the EU's Emissions Trading System will make British firms more energy efficient, and so more profitable.
The delegation warned that developing countries will never take climate change seriously unless countries like the UK show how it can be tackled.
Shell UK chairman James Smith said to the BBC: "government and industry working together" is crucial.
"The solutions are within our grasp and what we need to do is to muster the common will to deploy those solutions and that means leadership and that means partnership," he said.
The Prime Minister, the BBC reported, said: "Business leadership is critical if we are going to accelerate action on climate change, both nationally and internationally."
"Businesses like yours can help develop new clean technologies and can encourage governments to take bolder policy steps."
The group has been brought together through the Prince of Wales's Business and Environment Programme.
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