Climate change and the related regulations have strongly influenced the life of some major European companies. Energy efficiency measures are usually the main options pursued and new hires are avoided by retraining or "greening" existing employees, a new study has found. U.K.-based GHK Consulting, hired by the European Commission, has reviewed the cases of 15 companies, including Enel, Cadbury, Marks and Spencer, Carrefour, Air France-KLM and Virgin Atlantic, examining the ways in which climate change and related policies have influenced them and how they have responded. With the exception of Coca Cola, all are European companies. The reviewers found that these companies' major moves so far have been aimed at improving energy efficiency. "Energy efficiency is the first thing they look at," said James Medhurst, director at GHK Consulting. Power plants have become more efficient, companies have invested in new fleets of cars, airlines in new planes and transport companies in new trucks. The French retail group Carrefour (495,000 employees) has pledged to shave 20 percent off its energy consumption by 2015.

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