If the Suit Fits, Wear It

BT and other multinationals call for action on climate change

More and more prominent suits are issuing calls to action on global warming. The latest is Ben Verwaayen, chief exec of U.K. telecom company BT, who this week became the first Brit corporate bigwig to say publicly that climate change is hurting his business -- and, oh yeah, could destabilize the world economy. Summer flooding in Scotland last year, followed by gale force winds in the winter, led to "numerous cable faults, overhead cables down, and a whole car park full of vehicles ruined by floods," says Verwaayen, who fears such extreme weather is just a taste of what's to come. BT and other multinationals met with Tony Blair last week to call for action from the G8 industrialized nations. Across the pond, GE, Cinergy Corp., and other major American companies are asking the Bush administration to establish consistent federal climate-change regulations -- apparently they didn't get the "regs hurt the economy" memo.