UK Government Urged To Lay Basis For Low-Carbon Growth -FT

LONDON (Dow Jones)--Business leaders from some of the U.K.'s leading companies have backed the government's drive to persuade the European Union to adopt tougher measures to cut carbon emissions, the Financial Times reports Wednesday. The chairmen and chief executives from 27 companies, including Vodafone Group PLC (VOD) and Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LLOY.LN), said in a letter to the FT that Chris Huhne, the U.K.'s minister for energy and climate change, and his French and German counterparts, Jean-Louis Borloo and Norbert Roettgen respectively, were right to push for higher greenhouse gas emissions cuts to aid economic recovery and shore up energy security in the future. In the letter to the FT, they said it is "critical that we exit this recession in a way that lays the foundation for low-carbon growth and avoids locking us into a high-carbon future." They also said that by adopting tougher carbon-cutting goals, the EU would be sending a the right signal to companies "if they are to continue investing billions of euros in low-carbon products, services, technologies and infrastructure." More ambitious targets would also renew momentum for a new global deal on climate change, they said. Full story: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a4915456-942c-11df-a3fe-00144feab49a.html http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/20993c34-9424-11df-a3fe-00144feab49a.html -London bureau, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)20 78 42 9330; generaldesklondon@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 21, 2010 02:45 ET (06:45 GMT)