News Release issued by
the COI News Distribution Service on 18 September 2009
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