Shell, Unilever, Alcoa, Procter & Gamble and Johnson and Johnson today joined 180 other companies in calling on governments to take action to keep the global rise in temperatures below two degrees Celsius.
The companies called for governments to agree a “robust, equitable and effective agreement” at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change meeting in Durban, South Africa in December, saying that without such a deal, business won’t have enough certainty to invest to its full potential.
They said time is running out to keep global warming under 2 degrees C.
In the 2?C Challenge Communiqué, the companies called for a carbon price sufficient to drive the necessary emissions reductions. They said governments should draw on a wide variety of tools, including taxes and trading systems, to create that price signal.
The signatories also called for countries to tackle deforestation and emissions from international shipping and aviation, and to implement funding for innovation and low-carbon development. The companies said government should help businesses and consumers to be more energy efficient, and said use of efficiency standards and labelling should expand.
And the group, which included several international oil companies, called for an end to fossil fuel subsidies.
Signatories, hailing from 29 countries, included Ebay, Tesco, Ricoh, Cemex, Adidas, AECOM, Diageo, Philips, BP, Nestle, Vodafone and Skanska. But while 106 of the 175 signatories hail from Europe, only 13 are based in North America.
Yesterday a group of 285 investors worth $20 trillion, working through the U.N. Environment Program, called on governments to create short-, medium- and long-term greenhouse gas targets, and urged the creation of an international climate change regime to bind major emitters to GHG reduction goals.
