Over 100 international companies, including Shell, Unilever, Hollard Insurance, EDF Energy, Braskem, Statoil, Swiss Re, Ricoh and Skanska, have endorsed the Carbon Price Communiqué, which was presented on19 November to the European Commissioner for Climate Action, Connie Hedegaard, and distinguished Ambassadors to the EU at an event in Brussels.

The Communiqué calls on policy makers to focus on achieving a clear, transparent and unambiguous global carbon price to underpin the investment needed to deliver substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. It applauds the implementation of carbon pricing systems in some advanced developing countries and regions and calls for such measures to be expanded.

Connie Hedegaard said: “We are fully supportive of this initiative from leading companies. The European experience confirms that putting a price on carbon stimulates emissions reduction. The ETS is Europe’s flagship tool to meet our emission reduction target for 2020. We are planning to link our system with Australia’s and encourage more countries to join the ETS family in order to drive down emissions globally.”

The Communiqué, co-ordinated by The Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change, with contributions from the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the International Emissions Trading Association, is being issued a week before Ministers meet at the 18^th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, in Doha, Qatar.

The Communiqué argues that, “A clear, stable, ambitious and cost-effective policy framework is essential to underpin the investment needed to deliver substantial greenhouse gas emissions […] putting a clear, transparent and unambiguous price on carbon must be a core policy objective.”

The businesses believe a market-driven carbon price would offer regulatory certainty and create a level playing field to drive low-carbon investment and innovation. “A price on carbon […] can open the door to increased ambition,” the Communiqué reads.

Graham van’t Hoff, Chairman of Shell UK said: “Emissions trading schemes have huge potential to deliver real change. Putting a price on CO₂ emissions should mean that the lowest-cost CO₂ emission reduction measures are implemented first and that all measures are used. Governments at the UN climate conference should focus on carbon pricing as a key policy objective.”

The Communiqué notes “a key lesson from existing systems is that without sufficient ambition the carbon price signal will not effectively drive investment or raise significant funds […] carbon pricing is not a silver bullet, but in combination with other locally appropriate policies, the scope for change is enormous.”

Philippe Joubert Chair of The Prince of Wales’s EU Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change said: “The message from business is clear: a serious, ambitious and meaningful carbon pricing mechanism is essential to incentivise investment in a low-carbon economy and sustainably drive significant emissions reductions.”