Responding to Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s announcement at the Rio+20 Earth Summit today (Wednesday 20 June 2012) that leading UK companies will have to report their carbon emissions from next year, Friends of the Earth Campaigner David Powell, said:

“Companies should be made to report on the environmental damage they cause.

“This announcement is a good start, but it’s only the minimum required - especially as many firms are already willing to reveal their carbon emissions.

“The Government should move immediately to make every large business report on its pollution and use of precious resources like water – that’s the kind of leadership the UK should be showing at the Rio+20 Earth Summit.”

ENDS

Notes to editors

1.              You can see Friends of the Earth’s full report ‘Rio+20 Earth Summit: What the UK needs to do to make it matter’ here.

2.              Thousands of people have joined Friends of the Earth’s call to Nick Clegg to end subsidies for fossil fuel companies see here. 

3.              The environment charity is urging the Coalition Government to take action at home to prove its credibility as a green leader including:

•             helping hard-pressed UK households struggling with high fuel bills, by developing clean British energy and cutting energy waste;

•             saving British bees and saving the nation millions of pounds by committing to protect nature right across the UK, not just in designated areas – starting with a National Bee Action Plan;

•             acting to reduce UK consumption of the planet’s limited resources and put sustainable development at the heart of Government policy-making, from how we plan our towns to the way we farm and feed ourselves.

4.              While he’s in Brazil, Friends of the Earth is calling on Nick Clegg to help ensure that:

•             World governments stop handing almost $100 billion in taxpayers’ money to the fossil fuel industry every year, and use the money to help billions of the world’s poorest people get access to clean, affordable energy;

•             plans coming out of the summit don’t undermine existing agreements on sustainable development;

•             rich countries stop pushing for dodgy deals to sell off the world’s forests and unique habitat and species-rich areas to the highest bidder;

•             real progress is made to enable people everywhere to have a say in how the environment is protected and access to justice when it isn’t;

•             everyone’s voices are heard and taken into account during the Rio+20 talks and decision-making – not just the opinions of businesses and politicians;

•             the UN’s initiative to enable poor communities to access energy prioritises tripling the use of renewable energy by 2030 rather than using dirty energy that will lock poor countries into fossil fuels.

5.              The environment charity also supports the alternative People’s Summit process in Rio, where people from around the world excluded from the UN talks are asking politicians to put the needs of the world’s poorest people and future generations before short-term profit.