Multinationals call for Bali progress

The bosses of 150 of the world's largest companies have today called on world leaders to deliver a comprehensive, legally binding UN framework to tackle climate change.

The communiqué was orchestrated by the Prince of Wales' UK and EU Corporate Leaders Groups on Climate Change and aims to crank up pressure on diplomats to make significant progress towards a post-Kyoto agreement at the UN's Bali climate change conference next week.

The statement was signed by many of the world's largest multinational firms, including Coca-Cola, Gap, Nike, British Airways, Nestlé, Nokia, Shell, Tesco and Virgin, as well as a number of Chinese companies such as Shanghai Electric and Suntech.

It notes that "as business leaders, it is our belief that the benefits of strong, early action on climate change outweigh the costs of not acting", adding that a "sufficiently ambitious, international and comprehensive legally binding United Nations agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will provide business with the certainty it needs to scale up global investment in low-carbon technologies".

The group calls on political world leaders to agree a "work-plan of comprehensive negotiations" at the Bali summit that will ensure an agreement can come into force post 2012, when the existing Kyoto Protocol expires.

Writing in the Financial Times, the Prince of Wales praised the companies for showing "remarkable leadership" and expressed hope that the move "will strengthen the resolve of those gathered in Bali to make the tough decisions the world so urgently needs".

Alain Grisay, chief executive of F&C Asset Management, insisted that a clear legal framework was essential to tackling climate change. "Business and investors can only play their part in tackling climate change if governments take decisive action to make this possible," he said. "This problem will not get solved through market forces alone in the time that we have left to act, because climate change presents a textbook example of market failure. This means that voluntary targets will not do; business needs a level playing field in order to take on the financial risks that adequate action on climate change requires," he added.

The communiqué is the latest indication that the business community is increasingly turning its back on the voluntary approach to curbing carbon emissions advocated by the US administration and instead favouring a globally integrated legislative approach that it hopes will head off the patchwork of different legal frameworks that is currently emerging.

Earlier this week, the CBI's influential Climate Change Task Force issued similar calls, releasing a major report arguing for more green taxes and a clear price on carbon emissions.