OSLO, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Leaders of 78 major companies urgedgovernments on Monday to include the pricing of carbon emissionsas part of policies to curb global warming, as world leadersprepare for a summit on climate change in Paris next week.
Chief executives of the companies, with combined annualturnover of $2.1 trillion, said in an open letter to worldleaders that an ambitious deal in Paris would help create botheconomic growth and jobs.
It said the CEOs, organised by the World Economic Forum,were from companies including HSBC, Siemens,SOHO China, PepsiCo, Engie, Mahindra Group,Tata, Nestlé, BT Group, Unilever and PwC.
"We believe that effective climate policies have to includeexplicit or implicit prices on carbon achieved via marketmechanisms or coherent legislative measures according tonational preferences," they wrote.
Such pricing would "trigger low-carbon investment andtransform current emission patterns at a significant scale,"they added, noting they were taking voluntary actions to reducetheir environmental and carbon footprints.
Almost 200 nations will meet in Paris from Nov. 30 to Dec.11 to try to map out a transformation of the world economytowards a low-carbon future, breaking with an increasingreliance on fossil fuels since the Industrial Revolution. (Reporting by Alister Doyle; Editing by David Holmes)