27 Apr Open letter from Global CEOs to World Leaders urging concrete climate action

A coalition of 43 CEOs from companies with interests in over 150 countries and territories who generated total revenues in excess of $1.2 trillion in 2014 has written an open letter to world leaders urging them to reach an ambitious climate deal at the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP21) in Paris in December 2015. The coalition which includes Olof Persson (AB Volvo), Andrew Liveris (Dow Chemical Company) and Frank Appel (Deutsche Post DHL Group) recognises that the private sector has a responsibility to engage in global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and is already taking action. They also want to work with the international community to help deliver practical climate solutions and are calling on Governments to take bold action to secure a more prosperous future for everyone on Earth.

The coalition has made a number of commitments which include voluntary actions to reduce environmental and carbon footprints, setting targets to reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions and actively managing climate risks and incorporating them in decision making. As part of their vision, effective climate policies must include explicit or implicit carbon pricing, and they urge a strategic action agenda which is supported by clear and consistent policies and robust monitoring, reporting and verification that will compliment business efforts to stimulate innovation. They also welcome disclosure of investments and policies that focus on energy-related activities (including both fossil fuel and non-fossil fuel). They acknowledge that delaying action is not an option as delaying will increase related costs and damage future growth prospects.

See the coalition’s open letter here

The coalition is to be applauded for their foresight and for publishing this open letter. They are clearly extremely successful in their chosen sectors and are recognised worldwide, and this success and recognition is likely to have arisen from their confidence in analysing a situation and moving early on an opportunity. I encourage anyone who reads this to send it to a CEO in their family or network of friends, or a CEO that they know through their social networks. In doing so, the statement to world leaders will be loud and clear, and most importantly, very difficult to ignore.