Unilever chief calls for carbon cuts at Paris Climate Week

Unilever’s chief executive Paul Polman has urged world leaders to scale up their efforts to combat climate change and set ambitious emissions reduction targets.

Speaking on the opening day of Paris Climate Week and ahead of a key business climate summit, Polman called on fellow business leaders to create a “political licence” for governments to promote renewable energy.

Polman said: “It’s clear that, increasingly, the business community is aware of the costs of climate change. Momentum is swinging towards people realising that we need to take urgent action to stay below two degrees [average global temperature increase]. There was a belief among some politicians that the main challenge is job creation and economic growth, and if we get side-tracked with climate we might not achieve the economic growth. The reality is, if we don’t tackle climate change we won’t achieve economic growth.”

The Unilever CEO said the company had been hit by costs of €300m to €400 million higher than normal due to extreme weather.

Polman is a member of the The B Team group of business leaders with Virgin owner Richard Branson and vehicle industrialist Ratan Tata, and the group is calling on governments to bring greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050.

The B Team will be a key presence at Paris Climate Week and the French capital will also host the crucial COP21 UN Climate Change Conference in December when a global binding climate deal is due to be signed by nearly 200 states

RE100, another group that will have a key presence in Paris, will announce its new members on Monday and is aiming to encourage 100 leading international companies to source 100 per cent of their energy from renewables.