Business wants to achieve sustainable climate system (letter to the Editor published in the Financial Times)

4 December 2008 - Sir, Martin Wolf (Clarity is crucial, FT.com December 1) makes the point that business must demand from government what it needs most – a clear and consistent global policy framework. Mr Wolf is banging at an open door. Those of us who have long worked with companies on sustainability issues know that business has been telling governments this for some time.

This is why the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, together with the International Chamber of Commerce, is organising a business day in Poznan, Poland next Tuesday (December 9) under the umbrella of the United Nations climate change conference currently under way.

But Tuesday will not be the first time that the highest levels of business take to government the need for a consistent global policy framework. We have held business days before – in Bali, for instance, and in Johannesburg before that – and governments have listened but so far have failed to act. Business fully understands that it cannot succeed in societies that fail. If climate change is allowed to continue unchecked, then there seems little doubt that we will be left with a significantly different carbon- and resource-constrained world.

Business people live in the same world as everyone else, use the same planet's resources, and want to protect and preserve the future for their children, too. As providers of employment for themselves and others, business people also want to protect their ability to do business and make a profit in the future. Business is part of society, and just as it should be part of the solution to society's problems, its needs should be considered when those solutions are formulated. And this is what business needs: a transparent, predictable, long-term policy framework; precise intermediate targets (2020-30); commitments from all parties to take action built on fair burden-sharing; separate and distinct consideration of rapidly emerging economies; national policies suited to national circumstances; and skills development and resources to support actions in developing countries.

Business has said this before, and will say it again in Poznan. My message to governments and policy negotiators is this: business is not standing in your way, we are ready and willing to take on the challenges required. Give us the clarity we need to proceed, so that we can take the actions necessary for a sustainable climate system.

Björn Stigson, President, World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Geneva, Switzerland

Author Bjorn Stigson Publication Date 4 Dec 2008 Document Type Speeches WBCSD news Issue/Topic Advocacy & Communications Electricity Utilities Source WBCSD Include In RSS WBCSD News & Updates