The Blair Pitch Project

Biz leaders urge Blair to act on climate

A dozen of Britain's top business chieftains have sent a letter to Prime Minister Tony Blair urging him to get on the ball in the fight against climate change. The heads of BP, Shell, HSBC Bank, and other major companies say global warming is a massive problem that demands aggressive business investment, but they want to know how government policies on climate will shake out before they firm up their plans to tackle the challenge. Meanwhile, Blair is on the road pitching his agenda for the G8 summit that his government will host in Scotland in July; one of his top goals for the meeting is to get the leaders of the big eight industrialized nations to agree on steps to address climate change. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi today endorsed Blair's agenda, but of course the real trick will be getting buy-in from U.S. President George W. Bush. Good luck with that, Tony.