Today I hosted a press conference at the British Residence to launch Hungary’s home-grown platform of corporate CEOs who are committed to supporting ambition in Hungarian and European climate change policy. This is an exciting new initiative. Establishing such a group was discussed during the official visit of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales to Hungary in March 2010. His programme on that occasion included a business roundtable on the opportunities for low carbon growth in Hungary. Our main partners at the roundtable were the European Union Corporate Leaders Group (EU CLG), the Hungarian Business Leaders Forum (HBLF) and the Regional Environmental Centre (REC). They have promised to support the newly launched corporate leaders group in its initial phase.
Announcement of this new organisation is an important milestone in Hungary. It should enable the Hungarian grouping to contribute to the wider work of The Corporate Leaders’ Network for Climate Action (CLN), which is active in a number of countries world-wide. This represents a powerful platform of national, cross-sector business groupings which collaborate and advocate strong policy measures to deliver low carbon economic transition at home and internationally.
It was really encouraging to see a dozen or so CEOs demonstrating their commitment today, engaging with the Hungarian Deputy State Secretary for climate and low carbon economy as well as press representatives about what they are already doing. Very soon they will have a chance to channel their enthusiasm into a joint communication by the European CLN groupings about the EU’s move to a more ambitious international climate target. I wish this initiative well and stand ready to help and report on further developments and achievements as the group identifies its public face and agenda.