British Business Group & Climate Change Commitment

From the Business section of the Toronto Star, Tuesday, November 27, 2007, page B4:

U.K. EMPLOYER GROUP VOWS TO FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE

London - Britain's top employer's organization pledged yesterday to help combat climate change, saying the issue is an urgent priority for business, government and consumers alike.

The Confederation of British Industry has placed global warming at the heart ofits agenda at the start of its annual two-day conference in London.

Reporting the findings of its climate change task force, the federation called for fundamental change in British business and issued a series of pledges to help companies adopt greener practices.

Firms must "change their business models to meet consumers' and society's needs in an era of climate change," it said.

One key pledge was to "develop new products and services that will empoyer households to halve their emissions by 2020."

Another vow was to save an extra 1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.

Federation director-general Richard Lambert added: "This report makes clear that in the future, businesses will have to be green to grow."

The task force comprises top executives from 18 well-known companies, such as BP, Royal Dutch Shell and steel maker Corus, which employ some two million people.

"Today the ... task force has demonstrated its commitment to tackling climate change," said chair Ben Verwaayen, who is also head of telecommunications group BT.

Meanwhile, the federation has questioned the British government's ambitious targets to slash carbon emissions by 26 per cent to 32 per cent by 2020 and 60 per cent by 2050.

"The U.K.'s carbon reduction targets for 2020 are likely to be missed , but that 2050 goal, whilst stretching, can be achieved at a manageable cost - provided a greater sense of urgency is now adopted, " it said, citing analysis by McKinsey consultants.

Agence France-Presse