Big business calls for global action on climate change

Governments must put policies in place to prevent the cumulative emission of more than a trillion tonnes of carbon, according to a statement from leading global businesses today.

The Trillion Tonne Communiqué, coordinated by The Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group, has so far been signed by 70 companies from 5 continents, including major multinationals like Acciona, Adidas, CalSTRS, EDF Energy, ING, Mars, Shell, TetraPak, and Unilever, with a collective turnover of at least $90bn. It calls for a ‘rapid and focused response’ to the threat of rising global carbon emissions, and the ‘disruptive climate impacts’ inevitably associated with them.

Eliot Whittington, deputy director of The Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group said: “This communiqué sends a clear message from business at a critical time, when events in the Ukraine have refocused global attention on energy security, and just as the scientific consensus reminds us all of the imperative of collective action.”

Specifically the communiqué calls on governments to set a timeline for achieving net zero emissions before the end of the century as well as design a credible strategy to transform the energy system and create a plan to manage reliance on fossil fuels, especially coal.

The Trillion Tonne Communiqué is the seventh in a series coordinated by the Corporate Leaders Group, representing the voice of progressive international business. In the last week it has been endorsed in speeches by two leading ceos, Paul Polman of Unilever and Vincent de Rivaaz of EDF Energy.

This year’s statement comes ahead of a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on the actions scientists believe are necessary to mitigate climate change. It also looks to the UN climate change talks in Paris in 2015 as a major opportunity to secure global agreement on a net zero emissions goal. 

See here to read the full communiqué.