British Airways, Shell, EDF among companies to call for action on climate

Leading global companies sign communique warning that failure to secure deal in Copenhagen will worsen world economy
Press Association
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 22 September 2009 11.01 BST
More than 500 leading global companies have signed up to a call for action on climate change ahead of crunch talks on tackling the problem in Copenhagen in December.
The move by some of the world's leading brands comes after prime minister Gordon Brown pledged to attend December's UN climate conference to ensure a deal aimed at avoiding dangerous temperature rises is reached.
The Copenhagen Communique, to be unveiled at the UN's climate summit in New York today, is the latest in a series of events this week aimed at increasing the pressure on world leaders to secure agreement on cutting the greenhouse emissions which cause climate change.
The communique, whose signatories include British Airways, Virgin, BP, Shell and energy suppliers EDF and E.ON, warns that a failure to secure a deal in Copenhagen will worsen the current economic climate.
But a science-based agreement with commitments for deep and immediate cuts from industrialised countries will "deliver the economic signals that companies need if they are to invest billions of dollars in low carbon products, services, technologies and infrastructure", it said.
The communique, organised by the Prince of Wales's corporate leaders group on climate change based at the University of Cambridge, said: "Economic development will not be sustained in the longer term unless the climate is stabilised.
"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 statement, signed by companies from more than 50 countries including the UK and Europe, the US, Russia and China, backed efforts to limit temperature rises to 2C, which will require global emissions to peak within the next decade and fall by between 50% and 85% by mid century.
It calls for funding to prevent deforestation - which accounts for almost a fifth of global emissions - as well as efforts by both developed and developing countries and a robust global emissions trading market.
The communique will be presented to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and more than 100 world leaders who are attending today's summit aimed at boosting momentum towards a deal.