Business leaders call for ambitious global deal on climate change

They will warn that business will suffer if a credible deal is not reached at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this December.

The global media launch of The Copenhagen Communiqué is timed to coincide with the UN Summit on Climate Change which is taking place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York later today. A copy of The Copenhagen Communiqué will be handed at lunchtime today to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and distributed to more than 100 Heads of State and Governments attending the summit.

The Copenhagen Communiqué has already secured the support of companies based in over 50 countries (including the US, EU, Japan, Australia and Canada, as well as Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), ranging from the world's largest companies and best-known brands to Small and Medium Size Enterprises (SMEs) and across a wide variety of business sectors.

In just two pages, the Communiqué sets out the business case for a strong and effective UN climate framework and offers a progressive global consensus on the shape of an agreement. The full text of The Copenhagen Communiqué is available in 19 different languages at www.copenhagencommunique.com, in addition to the complete list of companies that have endorsed it so far and supporting quotes from their business leaders.

The Copenhagen Communiqué is an initiative of The Prince of Wales's Corporate Leaders' Group on Climate Change which is run by The University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership. Global partners in support of the initiative include The Climate Group, The UN Global Compact and WWF-International along with business associations and initiatives in many different countries.

In the Communiqué, the more than 500 business leaders say, "These are difficult and challenging times for the international business community and a poor outcome from the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen will only make them more so, by creating uncertainty and undermining confidence". They warn that, "Economic development will not be sustained in the longer term unless the climate is stabilised" and say it is "critical" that "we exit this recession in a way that lays the foundation for low-carbon growth and avoids locking us into a high carbon future".

The companies call for emission reduction targets to be guided by science and offer support for the emerging consensus to limit global average temperature rise to less than 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels. In turn, they recognise that this will require global emissions to peak and begin to decline rapidly within the next decade and reduce by 50-85% by 2050.

The business leaders urge developed countries to take on "immediate and deep emission reduction commitments" and "demonstrate that low-carbon growth is both achievable and desirable" and provide the necessary financial and technological assistance to developing countries. They call on developing countries to draw up their own emission reduction plans, and call on advanced developing countries to adopt economy-wide commitments by 2020.

The companies argue for an immediate interim emergency package to provide substantial funding to tropical forest nations to help them halt deforestation in their countries. The continued destruction of rainforests accounts for up to a fifth of annual greenhouse gas emissions.

The issue of financing for climate change mitigation and adaptation more generally is one of the most contentious issues in the climate negotiations, with a variety of estimates suggesting that between US $100-200bn will be needed annually by 2030 to help developing countries reduce their emissions and adapt to the climate change already being experienced. In The Copenhagen Communiqué the business leaders argue that "the costs of transition are manageable, even in the current economic climate".

The companies finish by stating: "The more ambitious the framework, the more business will deliver" but that "Delay is not an option".

Craig Bennett, Co-Director of The Prince of Wales's Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change, based at the University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership (the organisation behind the initiative), who will be in attendance in New York this week, said:

"It has been extraordinary to see the level of support that has come in from the international business community for The Copenhagen Communiqué - from companies in the developed and developing world, across all sectors, ranging from the world's largest companies and best-known brands, to small and medium sized enterprises. If it is possible for such a variety of companies to agree on the basic shape of an ambitious, robust and equitable global deal on climate change - surely it should now be possible for the world's governments to do the same?"

US based companies in support of the Communiqué include AECOM, Cisco, Coca-Cola, CSC, eBay Inc., Gap Inc., General Electric, HP, Johnson & Johnson, Johnson Controls, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, SC Johnson & Son, Starbucks Coffee Company, SunGard, Symantec, Thomson Reuters, United Technologies Corporation and Yahoo!. The document has also been signed by CalSTRS (the largest US teachers' retirement fund). Canadian companies include Bombardier, Cascades Inc., Domtar Corporation, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Royal Bank of Canada and Scotiabank.

European based companies include Adidas, Allianz, Alstom, Air France-KLM, Anglo-American, Arup, Barclays, Banco Santander, BASF, British Airways, BT, BP, Carrefour, Deutsche Telekom, Diageo, The Eczacibasi Group, Enel, EDF Energy, Endesa, Ferrovial, HSBC, J Sainsbury's, Lloyds of London, Marks and Spencer, Nestlé, Philips, Rio Tinto, Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Reckitt Benckiser, Repsol, Rolls-Royce, SAP, Siemens, Skanska, Shell, Swiss Re, Telefonica, Tesco, Unilever, and Virgin Group. The Russian companies FESCO, Industrial Investors Group and RUSAL have also signed.

Australian based companies include Insurance Australia Group, Lend Lease Coporation Ltd, Linfox, Macquarie Group Limited, National Australia Bank Limited, Telstra Corporation Limited, Westpac Group, and Woolworths Limited.

South American companies include Arcor, Banco Galicia, Braskem SA, CEMEX, Copagaz Distribuidora de Gás, EDP - Energias do Brasil, Natura Cosméticos, O Boticário and Vale.

In Asia, The Copenhagen Communiqué has been signed by a number of Chinese companies including Bank of Beijing, Chervon Ltd, Dongguan Wonderful Ceramic Company, Hangzhou GreatStar Industrial Co., Ltd, Shanghai Electric and Suntech, and by Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, Swire Pacific Limited and The Bank of East Asia all based in Hong Kong.

Indian based companies include Infosys Technologies, ITC, Asian Fabrics and Ramco International. The Japanese companies Ricoh and Nippon Insurance have endorsed the document, along with the Saudi based Rezayat Group and Woongjin Group based in South Korea.

The South African companies ABSA Group, Nedbank Ltd, Pick n Pay, Santam, Sanlam Ltd, and Sappi Limited have signed.

The full list of signatories can be found at: www.copenhagencommunique.com

International companies are welcome to add their support for The Copenhagen Communiqué right through until the end of November and it is expected that the total number of signatories will increase dramatically over the next couple of months as more and more companies hear about the initiative.

Representatives of The Prince of Wales's Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change, and many of the CEOs who signed The Communiqué, will be present at The United Nations Climate Summit in New York this week.