Our commitment to address global climate change reflects the opportunity we feel that this challenge presents for technological innovation and shareholder value creation. We believe the new climate framework could have a greater degree of impact on developing countries than any other sustainable development initiative in history.

Our overriding desire is for a results-oriented framework that aligns the long-term environmental and sustainable development imperative of addressing climate change with the practical business imperative of building long-term value for our customers and shareholders.

Representing over 12 percent of the market capitalization of all publicly-traded firms in the world, our group stands ready to work with governments to help build consensus for a fair and effective post-2012 framework.

However, businesses cannot fully capitalize on these new opportunities in an international policy vacuum: strong leadership from all governments, particularly those of the major economies, is essential, and that is why meetings such as the one that will take place in Hokkaido are so important.

The authors are Peter Bakker, CEO, TNT NV, Netherlands Alain Belda, Chairman Alcoa, USA Oleg Deripaska, Chairman Supervisory Board, Basic Element Company, Russian Federation Lars G Josefsson, President and CEO Vattenfall AB, Sweden Tsunehisa Katsumata, President,Tepco, Japan Phirwa Jacob Moroga, Chief Executive, Eskom, South Africa Vyatcheslav Sinyugin, CEO , JSC RusHydro, Russian Federation Michael R Splinter, President and CEO Applied Materials, USA Solomon D Trujillo, CEO Telstra, Corporation Australia Willie Walsh, CEO British Airways Plc, UK

(China Daily July 8, 2008)