The chief executives of 153 companies worldwide have committed to speeding up action on climate change and called on governments to agree as soon as possible on measures to secure workable and inclusive climate market mechanisms post 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol expires. The call was made in a business leaders statement issued at the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit convened by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon on 5-6 July in Geneva. The statement, called "Caring for Climate: The Business Leadership Platform," provides a global call from business leaders, many of them attending the Leaders Summit. The UN Global Compact, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) facilitated its development. Signatories to the statement, including 30 from the Fortune Global 500, commit their companies to "taking practical actions to increase the efficiency of energy usage and to reduce the carbon burden of products, services and processes, to set voluntary targets for doing so, and to report publicly on the achievement of those targets annually". They also commit to dealing with the climate issue strategically and to building relevant capacity. They undertake to work collaboratively with other enterprises on a sector basis and along their global supply chains, promoting recognized standards and taking joint initiatives to reduce climate risks.

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