Department of Energy and Climate Change
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Britain’s ‘Top 100s’ called to back global climate campaign
EMBARGOED UNTIL
00:01 MONDAY 21st SEPTEMBER 2009
Britain’s top 100 business leaders and top 100 media
personalities are today asked to put their efforts and influence
behind the global ‘tck tck tck’ climate change campaign.
Britain’s top 100 business leaders and top 100 media personalities are today asked to put their efforts and influence behind the global ‘tck tck tck’ climate change campaign.
With just under 80 days to go before crunch climate change talks in Copenhagen, British Cabinet Ministers Ed Miliband, Lord Mandelson and Ben Bradshaw have pledged their support to the campaign and written to Britain’s business and media leaders, and all MPs, asking them to back a global deal at December’s Copenhagen climate summit.
The ‘tck tck tck’ campaign is a global alliance of NGOs, trade unions, faith groups calling for a fair, ambitious and binding climate change agreement.
Kofi Annan, ex-Secretary General of the United Nations and leader of the campaign, recently wrote to 100 global leaders, including Prime Minister Gordon Brown, to ask them to join the campaign for an ambitious global climate deal.
Just as he wrote to the global ‘top 100’, the UK Government is now passing on the message to the top 100 leaders in British business and media and is sending on a ‘tck tck tck’ badge as the symbol of the global campaign. The letter asks business and media leaders to write to their own ‘top 100’ telling them why they personally believe in tackling climate change, send them a badge and ask them to pass on the message to their own ‘top 100’.
Ed Miliband, Climate and Energy Secretary, who is attending climate change meetings in New York this week, said:
“Governments have to show leadership to get the deal we need at Copenhagen. But we also need all parts of society to show it matters to them. I welcome the tck, tck, tck campaign. With all to play for, the campaign can help ramp up global pressure for the best possible climate deal in Copenhagen. I’ll be pushing at every opportunity over the coming 80 days to get a deal, but we need leaders from across the UK to lend their support too. It’s in everyone’s interests to back a deal to help make Britain a centre for green and low carbon jobs, and make our communities and homes greener.”
Lord Mandelson, Business Secretary, said:
"Britain’s world-class businesses are global leaders in low carbon manufacturing. The tck tck tck campaign is an excellent catalyst for galvanising support from the sector and leading the way towards a low carbon economy."
Ben Bradshaw, Culture Secretary, said:
“A global climate deal isn’t just an issue for environmentalists but for everyone in Britain. Our media sector is often at the forefront of global change and innovation and because of its almost unparalleled influence both here and overseas I hope it can pledge its support to the tck tck tck climate campaign. “
Richard Lambert, CBI Director-General, who co-authored the letter to businesses, said:
“Business is looking to the Copenhagen talks to deliver a robust
global agreement that gives companies confidence to make long-term
investments in low-carbon products, while remaining
internationally competitive.
“If we can get the right
deal, then companies will grasp the nettle by developing exciting
new technologies that will reduce carbon emissions for both the
developed and developing world.”
The following leaders have already voiced their support for the
campaign:
Sir Stuart Rose, Executive Chairman of Marks
& Spencer, said:
“We are supporting tck tck tck and will be encouraging our suppliers and employees to do so as well. Copenhagen is a unique and crucial opportunity to make a difference in reducing the world’s carbon emissions. Failure to take that opportunity is, in my opinion, not an option.
“Climate change is a key element of our Plan A eco-programme with 29 of the plan’s 100 commitments focusing on reducing our own emissions and helping our suppliers and customers reduce theirs.”
Truett Tate, Group Executive Director, Wholesale, Lloyds Banking Group said:
“The environmental, social and economic consequences of climate
change mean that we urgently need an effective global agreement in
Copenhagen.
“Through such an agreement we will not only
speed up the transition to a low carbon, low climate risk economy
but we will also help to rekindle the confidence of businesses
that is such a vital ingredient in any global recovery.
“Lloyds Banking Group is proud to be a signatory to the
Copenhagen Communique and we are delighted to be supporting this
new campaign working towards securing the best possible agreement
at the summit in December.“
Notes to Editors
1. For further information on the Copenhagen climate talks, go
to: www.actoncopenhagen.gov.uk
Further information on the tck tck tck campaign, visit www.tcktcktck.org
2. TckTckTck is a project of the Global Campaign for Climate Action (GCCA), a bold, new initiative involving a growing number of national and global organizations in support of a single goal: to mobilize civil society and to galvanize public opinion in support of transformational change and rapid action to save the planet from dangerous levels of climate change.
Contacts:
Department of Energy and Climate Change
nds.decc@coi.gsi.gov.uk
Aled Williams
Phone: 0300 068 5225
aled.williams@decc.gsi.gov.uk
