Over 80 top UK businesses call on Prime Minister to deliver ‘coherent’ climate strategy
Ahead of COP 26, many of the UK’s biggest companies have today warned Boris Johnson he has a ‘limited window’ to show genuine climate leadership
Over 80 of the UK’s leading businesses, including high profile brands such as Tesco, BT, Santander, and Heathrow, have today urged the Prime Minister to move swiftly to deliver a more coherent climate strategy ahead of the COP26 Climate Summit.
The call is part of a letter delivered to Boris Johnson to mark 40 days until the UN Climate Summit in Glasgow kicks off. Eight-one of the UK’s largest businesses have signed the letter, which calls on the government to provide the “strong domestic leadership that can help deliver global progress on climate change”.
In the letter, the businesses highlight the need for the UK government to lay out a coherent, integrated and Treasury-supported Net Zero Strategy before the start of the global summit. As such, it urges the Prime Minister to align economic and fiscal policy with the government’s decarbonisation strategy in order to provide businesses with the confidence they need to invest at speed and scale in ambitious emissions reduction efforts.
“A successful Summit that achieves the UK Presidency’s goals requires strong UK leadership combining effective diplomacy with credible outcomes, including international solidarity with countries lacking the resources to tackle these challenges alone,” the letter states. “The countdown to COP26 gives you a limited window to show such leadership. You must seize key opportunities like the upcoming Net Zero Strategy. To get results across the economy, this strategy will need strong support from HM Treasury through the Net Zero and Comprehensive Spending Reviews. You will also need to align other government policies and action across transport, housing, our natural environment and our international aid budget.”
In the letter, the signatories also point to the efforts being made by the private sector to advance the net zero transition. “As businesses invested in the future of the UK, we know these steps can deliver long-term benefits for people, nature and climate,” the letter states. “We call for an ambitious strategy from government with a clear timetable, detailed policy measures, market mechanisms and messaging on a sector-by-sector basis.”
It also commits the signatories to offering “full support to ensure COP26 delivers real global progress for a net zero economy and climate resilience”.
The letter has been coordinated by the Business Group Alliance for Net Zero (BGA) and its chair, Beverly Cornaby, warned that if the UK government fails to seize the opportunity to deliver a more ambitious net zero strategy it would result in significant risks and costs for businesses and investors. “The time is now to align climate action with the scale of the climate impacts taking place all over the world,” she said. “The COP26 Summit in Glasgow has the potential to deliver a step change in global action to reset and retool our economies. We need to see strong UK leadership built on a foundation of credible domestic action to carry the COP to a successful outcome.”
Her comments were echoed by Keith Anderson, chief executive of ScottishPower, one of the businesses backing the letter, who said: “The recent IPCC report has made it abundantly clear that humans are driving climate change and extreme weather events are on the rise. The case for action is urgent, and stark.”
The letter is the latest in a series of interventions calling on the government to use its chairing of COP26 and a wave of upcoming climate policy documents to strengthen a net zero strategy, which is currently off track for meeting the UK’s legally binding climate targets.
Just last week the UK’s largest mainstream business group, the CBI, warned the government to avoid the temptation to raise taxes and use the upcoming Spending Review and Net Zero Strategy to ramp up investment in low carbon infrastructure.
The government has consistently argued that it has a better decarbonisation track record than any other G20 country and is committed to accelerating its climate efforts through its upcoming Net Zero Strategy.
