Senior executives from some of the United Kingdom’s largest companies have called on political leaders to accelerate action to build a low carbon economy or risk costs “piling up”.
At the same time they expressed concern about extreme weather events such as the recent floods in Britain become more frequent.
The letter to the Financial Times was orchestrated by the Aldersgate Group of businesses and NGOs, business leaders from 11 high profile firms, including Aviva, Allianz, Kingfisher, Lloyds Banking Group, and Swiss Re.
The corporate leaders argue that the recent floods that have hit large parts of the country are in line with climate change predictions and a sign of escalating economic risks from extreme weather.
“We believe that a far-sighted cross-party response is urgently needed,” the letter states.
“Clearly the country needs to think about how it will manage the growing risks of widespread flooding.
“But events have also emphasised the need to act to address the causes of climate change.”
It argues that all political parties need to show more ambition in delivering the kind of policies that will help slash greenhouse gas emissions and accelerate the development of a low carbon economy.
“All parties must look beyond the short term and demonstrate their commitment to creating a low-carbon economy through domestic decisions and international leadership,” the letter states.
“Only bold action will maximise investment and innovation to deliver resilience and future economic competitiveness.
“Without this the costs will continue to pile up.”
UK environmental website BusinessGreen reports the letter, which was also signed by executives from Anglian Water, Atkins, Interface, Johnson Matthey, Mitie and Navigators, comes just a day after Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron and Labour Party opposition leader Ed Miliband clashed at Prime Minister’s Questions in the British Parliament over climate policy.
Mr Miliband accused the government of using “phoney” numbers on flood defence spending, after the Office of National Statistics criticised Ministers for failing to account for inflation when comparing spending over the past two parliaments.
He also criticised Mr Cameron for failing to build on his early commitment to tackling climate change and appointing ministers who do not regard climate change as a major issue to his Cabinet.
BusinessGreen reports in response, Mr Cameron reasserted that he believed “man-made climate change is one of the most serious threats that this country and this world faces”.
He highlighted the measures the government had taken to cut greenhouse gas emissions, such as the introduction of the Green Investment Bank and plans for a new fleet of nuclear power stations.
Yesterday also saw the launch of a new collection of essays from the Conservative Environment Network, which included contributions from former Marks & Spencer boss Sir Stuart Rose, Unilever chief executive Paul Polman, and KingfisherPaul Polman,’s Sir Ian Cheshire.
In an echo of the letter from the Aldersgate Group, both Mr Polman and Sir Ian highlighted the need for a stronger and more consistent political consensus on the need to build a low carbon economy.
“We recognise the role of policy and legislation in driving innovation but crave both policy certainty and clear signals, which aren’t undermined by calls to water down our ambition from those who believe that sustainability and growth are mutually exclusive,” wrote Mr Polman.
Similarly, Sir Ian warned that businesses that are working to cut emissions needed support from governments.
“The fact that companies alone can push through ambitious and realistic environmental change plans is no excuse for government to wash its hands of this agenda,” he said.
“A backdrop of national uncertainty does not help us convince shareholders to support multi-million pound investment decisions into these areas.”
