CBI discusses climate change risks and opportunities for British businesses

The CBI annual conference was addressed yesterday by Robert Napier, chairman of the Met Office who urged businesses to prepare for the opportunities and challenges posed by a changing climate. "The Met Office has some of the best weather and climate change science in the world,” Mr Napier told delegates. “We can help British business achieve competitive advantage by being at the forefront of both climate change mitigation and adaptation. There is of course uncertainty and we have to consider the future of the climate in terms of probabilities."

Previously the conference saw the launch of a report by the CBI Climate Change Task Force which claims that British businesses are committed to do what it takes to tackle climate change but the UK effort will only succeed if it becomes an urgent, shared national priority for companies, consumers and the government.

The CBI Climate Change Task Force report is the culmination of ten months' intensive work by 18 chairmen and chief executives from some of the UK’s biggest companies, under the independent chairmanship of BT chief executive Ben Verwaayen.

Analysis developed specifically for the report by consultants McKinsey shows the UK's carbon reduction targets for 2020 are likely to be missed but that 2050 goals, whilst stretching, can be achieved at a manageable cost - provided a greater sense of urgency is now adopted. It identifies priority areas for action that would put the UK back on track to meet its targets by 2030. The report explains how business will play its part, and commits the CBI to continue to play a leading role, both nationally and internationally.

The report says that businesses will have to fundamentally change their business models to meet consumers’ and society’s needs in an era of climate change. The Task Force says the longer we wait the higher the cost will be, but also stresses that alongside the risks, the shift to a low carbon economy offers the UK a unique opportunity to develop innovative environmental technologies of the future and prosper in new, multi-billion-dollar world markets - but only if research funding is better co-ordinated and prioritised.

Richard Lambert, CBI director-general, said:

"This report makes clear that in the future, businesses will have to be green to grow. To manage their costs and to maintain the trust of their customers, they will need to build carbon management into their corporate DNA.

"But this is a story of opportunity as well as risk. With the right focus on R&D, we can be at the forefront of new low carbon technologies that will power the world economy. We don’t have to return to the dark ages or live joyless lives to cut our carbon footprints - we just have to learn, together, to do things differently, with carbon becoming a new currency in our economy."

Commenting on the report, Sir Nicholas Stern, author of the authoritative report for the UK government on the economics of climate change, said:

"Business has shown real leadership in publishing this report. It provides a rigorous and realistic analysis of the issues and identifies the key policies, emphasising the importance of clear price signals over the short, medium and long terms.

"It rightly emphasises the importance of collaboration between government, business and households, and demonstrates clearly the importance of timely action. At the same time it shows that effective action can be taken at acceptable cost."

http://www.cbi.org.uk/climatereport

•Date: 28th Nov 2007• Region:UK •Type: Article •Topic: BC general
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