While urging governments to take collective action to address the challenge of climate change, global business leaders and investors have extended their support for arriving at a balanced and effective global agreement in Copenhagen later this year.
Meeting in conjunction with the UN summit on climate change in New York on Tuesday, the UN Leadership Forum on Climate Change issued a declaration emphasising upon the governments to prefer long-term sustainability over short-term politics in the same way as businesses have managed a paradigm shift during the global economic crisis. Organised by the UN Global Compact, the speakers at the launch event included UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, Danish prime minister Lars Lkke Rasmussen, former US vice-president Al Gore and global business leaders, including Tata Groups executive board member Jamshed Irani and Praj Industries executive chairman Pramod Chaudhari.
UN Global Compact chief Georg Kell told FE, “The forum was intended to build political momentum for Copenhagen and give political leaders confidence that many in the global business community support early and far-reaching climate action.” He added, “We hope that a lot of today’s recommendations and statements by business, investors and civil society convey to governments a sense of urgency to act on climate in the interest of a sustainable global marketplace.”
The declaration emphasises that only an agreement on climate change, which provides for sufficient price for carbon, can help create strong markets that are needed to diffuse climate solutions. If the world fails to reach an agreement, cautions the declaration, it would lead to trade tensions and threaten the global economy, including jeopardising ongoing investments and projects and raising costs for businesses.
Saying the cost of inaction will be greater than the cost of addressing climate change now, the declaration adds that the transition to low-carbon economy offers a big value creation opportunity. The declaration states, “By retooling the global economy in this way, opportunities will arise in new markets, products and industries. Only through regulatory certainty can an engine of green growth emerge, which drives innovation, spurs massive global investments and enhances efficiencies, allowing climate mitigation and adaptation approaches to reach full scale.”
Businesses have already made notable progress in developing and deploying solutions for adaptation and mitigation of climate change, and investors too are factoring climate change risks into their decision making.
Source: The Financial Express
Published on 25 September 2009