The Chief Executive of Anglian Water, Jonson Cox, will lead discussions with Gordon Brown this week (Thurs 15 January) about how the business community must continue to take positive action on climate change.
The meeting, at 10 Downing Street, has been organised by the Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders’ Group, a group of industry leaders which works closely with the Government on issues such as climate change and has recently renewed its call for urgent action from world leaders to remain committed to the issue.
The meeting will look at how businesses can continue to invest in cutting carbon emissions during the current economic downturn.
Jonson Cox will lead a discussion on how businesses must adapt to meet the physical challenges needed to prepare for climate change. In particular, he is to urge the Prime Minister to act on the findings of the Pitt Review, which called for urgent and fundamental changes in the way the country is adapting to the increased risk of flooding.
The group will also ask that Government departments work more effectively together to ensure that low-carbon policies are compatible with one another and work to remove barriers to effective adaptation.
Jonson Cox said: “Anglian Water is leading by example in adapting ways of working to achieve a lower carbon economy. This is a long-term job, but we are well on the way to meeting our targets of a 20 per cent reduction in carbon emissions by 2010, and a 20 per cent reduction in energy costs in the same period.
“The next five years will be crucial if we are to work together to meet the threats of climate change, which is why I am taking a rallying call to Downing Street to urge everyone to play their part and to focus on the priorities. I am very grateful indeed to the Prime Minister for his leadership.”
Experts predict that Anglian Water is likely to be one the UK water companies most vulnerable to climate change: It operates in the driest region of the country, with even drier summers predicted in the future.
Anglian Water press office – 0870 600 5 600