More than 150 companies worldwide, representing some $4 trillion in market valuation, have signed the Bali Communiqué:
As business leaders, it is our belief that the benefits of strong, early action on climate change outweigh the costs of not acting:
• The economic and geopolitical costs of unabated climate change could be very severe and globally disruptive. All countries and economies will be affected, but it will be the poorest countries that will suffer earliest and the most
• The costs of action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to avoid the worst impacts of climate change are manageable, especially if guided by a common international vision
• Each year we delay action to control global emissions increases the risk of unavoidable consequences that will likely necessitate even steeper reductions in the future, causing potentially greater economic, environmental and social disruption
• The shift to a low-carbon economy will create significant business opportunities. New markets for low carbon technologies and products, worth billions of dollars, will be created if the world acts on the scale required
In summary, we believe that tackling climate change is the pro-growth strategy. Ignoring it will ultimately undermine economic growth.
Here’s what they want.
• a comprehensive, legally binding United Nations framework to tackle climate change
• emission reduction targets to be guided primarily by science
• those countries that have already industrialised to make the greatest effort
• world leaders to seize the window of opportunity and agree a work plan of negotiations to ensure an agreement can come into force post 2012 (when the existing Kyoto Protocol expires)
Can somebody forward this story to the U.S. Congress?
