Asker, Norway – September 22, 2009 – Today business leaders from around the world have published The Copenhagen Communiqué, calling on world leaders to agree to “ambitious, robust and equitable global deal on climate change that responds credibly to the scale and urgency of the crisis facing the world today.”

The global media launch of The Copenhagen Communiqué is timed to coincide with the UN Summit on Climate Change which is taking place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York later today. A copy of The Copenhagen Communiqué will be handed at lunchtime today to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and distributed to more than 100 Heads of State and Governments attending the summit [1].

The Copenhagen Communiqué has already secured the support of companies based in over 50 countries (including the US, EU, Japan, Australia and Canada, as well as Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), ranging from the world’s largest companies and best-known brands to Small and Medium Size Enterprises (SMEs) and across a wide variety of business sectors.

In just two pages, the Communiqué sets out the business case for a strong and effective UN climate framework and offers a progressive global consensus on the shape of an agreement. The full text of The Copenhagen Communiqué is available in 19 different languages at
www.copenhagencommunique.com, in addition to the complete list of companies that have endorsed it so far.

Stefan Ranstrand, TOMRA President and Chief Executive Officer, said: “The world cannot afford to delay taking aggressive action on combating climate change. A strong, fair and comprehensive global approach is required, and TOMRA urges the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen to agree in December on a framework that builds on the elements proposed in the Communiqué.”

The Copenhagen Communiqué is an initiative of The Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders’ Group on Climate Change which is run by The University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership [2]. Global partners in support of the initiative include The Climate Group, The UN Global Compact and WWF-International along with business associations and initiatives in many different countries [3].

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NOTES:

[1] The United Nations Summit on Climate Change is being convened by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 22 September 2009. Over 100 Heads of State and Government will gather at UN Headquarters in New York in an attempt to advance the climate negotiations in advance of the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this December. For more information, please see: http://www.un.org/wcm/content/site/climatechange/lang/en/pages/2009summit

[2] The Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change (consisting of the UK and EU groups) has been developed by The University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership. Members of the group include: Acciona, AECOM, Allianz SE, Anglian Water Group, Axa Insurance, BAA, Barilla, BskyB, Cemex, Deutsche Telekom AG, Enel SpA, F&C Asset Management, Fortis Bank Nederland, John Lewis Partnership, Johnson Matthey, Kingfisher Group, Lloyds Banking Group, Philips, Reckitt Benckiser, Royal Dutch Shell, Skai Media, Skanska AB, Standard Chartered Bank, Sun Microsystems, Telecom Italia, Tesco, Thames Water, Unilever and Vodafone. More information is available at: www.copenhagencommunique.com

[3] Other partners include Business in the Community (and The Prince’s May Day Network), Canadian Business for Social Responsibility, Climate Change Business Forum (based in Hong Kong), University of Chile, FGV (Centro de Estudos em Sustentabilidade da EAESP), Fundacion Entorno, 2 Degrees (German CEOs for Climate Protection), The International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF) and The UN Office for Partnerships.