As part of Arup’s activity leading up the 15th United Nations Conference of Parties (COP15) in December 2009, the firm has joined over 600 companies from around the world in signing the Copenhagen Communiqué.
Published today, the Communiqué calls for ‘an ambitious, robust and equitable global deal on climate change that responds credibly to the scale and urgency of the crises facing the world today’. It warns that business will suffer if a credible deal is not reached at COP15.
Arup Chairman Philip Dilley says: “Cities account for over 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and so I am proud that Arup is supporting the C40 and the Clinton Climate Initiative with our expertise in sustainable integrated development.
“While positive measures to reduce carbon emissions are already underway, even greater results could be achieved with a more coordinated approach to low-carbon city development. Copenhagen can secure this by creating conditions for change, starting with a global emissions cap.”
The Copenhagen Communiqué has secured the support of companies based in over 50 countries, ranging from the world’s largest firms and best-known brands to small and medium size enterprises across a wide variety of business sectors. As part of today’s global launch, a copy of the Communiqué will be handed to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and distributed to more than 100 Heads of State and Governments.
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.
COP15, hosted by Copenhagen, is crucial to the climate change agenda as the objective is to agree a new international climate change deal that replaces the Kyoto Protocol.
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. This signing follows Arup’s support of the Bali (2007) and Poznan (2008) Communiqués.