Archived press release

The CBI: big claims, little evidence says Friends of the Earth

20 July 2005

Event: Launch of a new report about the CBI and corporate lobbying in the UK, hosted by Sandra Gidley MP and Friends of the Earth

At: Astor Suite, 1 Parliament St, Westminster SW1

When: 1-3pm, Wednesday, 20 July 2005.

Speakers: Deborah Doane, Chair of the Corporate Responsibility Coalition (CORE); Merlin Hyman, Director of the Environmental Industries Commission; Craig Bennett, Head of Corporate Accountability Campaign, Friends of the Earth and Sandra Gidley MP

MPs will today (Weds 20 July) be told that the CBI routinely exaggerates the costs of environmental regulation, ignores the benefits and falsely presents its anti-regulatory position as if it has consensus support across the business community.

A report by Friends of the Earth, launched today in Westminster, says the Government's failure to develop and support progressive regulatory frameworks to tackle environmental issues, such as climate change, is a direct result of lobbying by the CBI.

Examples include CBI lobbying on the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme leading to the Government caving in and increasing the UK's greenhouse gas allocation by 20 million tonnes per year - despite pledges by the Prime Minister concerning the importance of tackling climate change.

The report, "Easy Listening", challenges the CBI's consistently negative view of regulation and says good legislation would drive innovation and investment and give the UK access to a world market for environmental goods and services, estimated to be worth around £270 billion.

Friends of the Earth is calling on the Government to listen with a critical ear and seek out some alternative, "more progressive" business voices.

Friends of the Earth's Executive Director, Tony Juniper, said:

"The CBI claims to be the `voice of business' - but it isn't. The reality is that there are many business voices, but the government seems to be in thrall to the CBI, accepting its claims at face value.

"There is little evidence to back up the CBI's mantra that regulation damages UK competitiveness. Time and again, they have exaggerated the costs of regulation and ignored the benefits. It's time the Government started to demand hard evidence from the CBI and started listening to other, more progressive business voices. The UK could become a world leader in the development of clean technology, but the Government needs to provide leadership through regulatory frameworks rather than constantly cowering to the CBI."

Adrian Wilkes, Chairman of the Environmental Industries Commission, representing almost 280 companies working in the environment sector said:

"Scare-mongering by polluting industries regularly exaggeratesthe costs of pollution control,making the Government back-pedal on environmental protection. Yeteco-efficiency actually boosts competitiveness. Politicians need to focus on making environmental, economic and industrial policies mutually reinforcing. The debate needs to move beyond "Environment V Competitiveness" to "Environment AND Competitiveness", recognising that environmental quality is crucial to both competitiveness and our quality of life".

The report, `Easy Listening', contains quotes from former Environment Ministers Michael Meacher and John Gummer.

Friends of the Earth says it is time for the Government to seek out a range of views from companies on policy and legislation which addresses environmental and social challenges. Progressive companies are increasingly frustrated with the CBI's anti-regulatory mantra and the disproportionate influence it has on Government policy.

Notes

Summary report, `Easy Listening' and the main research report, `Hidden Voices' can be downloaded at:

www.foe.co.uk/resource/reports/easy_listening.pdf (PDF)
www.foe.co.uk/resource/reports/hidden_voices.pdf (PDF)

Friends of the Earth has sent copies of their summary report to the Chief Executives of every FTSE 350 company.

Evidence in the report `Easy Listening':

The Government has made tackling climate change a priority. Yet the effect of two of the Government's main initiatives, the Climate Change Levy (CCL) and the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme, have been weakened by CBI lobbying.

• The Climate Change Levy, a tax on carbon generated by industry, was introduced in April 2001 to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from industry. A year later, the CBI launched a broad attack on all environmental taxes and claimed that this "burden" had risen by 15% since 1997. But it grossly exaggerated the figures by including fuel duties and vehicle excise duties that had existed long before governments became concerned with the environmental impacts of transport. Even so, CBI lobbying succeeded in getting the Government to freeze the Climate Change Levy in the 2005/6 budget.

• When negotiating the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme, the Government caved into CBI lobbying and, despite pledges by the Prime Minister concerning the importance of tackling climate change, they successfully lobbied the Government to increase the UK greenhouse gas allocation by 20 million tonnes per year.

• A CBI report `UK Environmental regulation: The UK as a good place to do business, 2004' in 2004 referred to research which found that "Many businesses believe it (regulation) is damaging the UK's attraction as a place to do business." But the report was misleading in its analysis, made incorrect comparisons with other regulators and was attacked by one its most prominent members, the Chemical Industries Association. For example the report claimed that the Environment Agency undertook more site visits than `equivalent' regulators in other countries. But the CBI failed to acknowledge the Environment Agency's broad remit, comparing it with federal (national) inspections in France, the US and Italy where most inspections are done at state (regional) level.

• A government evaluation in 2004 found that there were an estimated 4,225 fewer deaths in the UK because of clean air legislation.

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust