Beckett warns business to back climate negotiations

London, 7 June: The UK's foreign secretary, Margaret Beckett, has issued a stark warning to business that it must help shape a global agreement to curb climate change, or suffer from "price shocks", "event shocks" and "policy shocks".

Speaking at a conference in London on carbon abatement technologies, Beckett said: "As businesses you have a choice. Accept the economic devastation of an unstable climate. Or engage in the process of forming those global agreements and make them work for you. An investment in the multilateral approach, in other words, is an investment in cutting your own business risks."

The foreign secretary said on Tuesday that business must get involved in the 18 months of intense and tough international negotiations about to kick off with the G8 meeting in Heiligendamm, Germany, which will lead into UN climate negotiations in Bali this December, where negotiations on a successor to the Kyoto Protocol are likely to begin.

She indicated that alternatives to an international agreement, such as voluntary or country-by-country efforts to tackle climate change, will not be sufficient to control emissions.

She said: "Business needs to be inside that process, not outside… If we are to get the right blend of incentives, regulations and investments, then business has to be involved in the planning, preferably every step of the way."

Warning of the implications if business does not help guide the negotiations, Beckett said: "There is the possibility of price shocks as carbon gets more expensive; the possibility of event shocks – look at the effect of Hurricane Katrina on industries as diverse as insurance and tourism; and the possibility of policy shocks as regulations change, incentives are adjusted and notions of corporate accountability are re-set… You will pay the penalty if governments get it wrong."

Earlier this year, Beckett raised the issue of climate change at a meeting of the UN Security Council, forcing the 15-member group to debate the implications of rising temperatures for the first time.