International business leaders Friday issued a call for a legally binding and comprehensive deal on climate change at the forthcoming Bali summit, saying that a shift to a low-carbon world would create "significant business opportunities." The leaders of 150 major global companies from Britain, other European countries, the US, China and Australia, backed the call, initiated by Britain's Prince Charles, and published in the Financial Times Friday, according to dpa. In what they call the Bali communique, the businesses said they need a mandatory agreement on emissions reductions to give them the confidence to invest in low-carbon technology. "A sufficiently ambitious, international and comprehensive, legally-binding United Nations agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will provide business with the certainty it needs to scale up global investment in low-carbon technologies." It said that companies believe the costs of action to cut carbon emissions was "less than the price of inactivity," and that the shift to a low-carbon world would create "significant business opportunities." Global targets for emission reduction of at least 50 per cent by 2050 should be based on science, and not economic considerations, they said. According to James Smith, chairman of oil giant Shell in Britain, businesses were supporting the efforts of international leaders because tackling climate change made "economic sense." "They know tackling climate change is the pro-growth strategy and ignoring it will lead to decline," said Smith.
