More regulations, please

TEXT OF STORY

MARK AUSTIN THOMAS: Business doesn’t usually line up to ask for more regulation, but a group of senior British executives has done just that. They’re demanding stricter curbs on carbon dioxide emissions. From London, here’s Stephen Beard.

STEPHEN BEARD: Thirteen British business leaders are meeting Prime Minister Tony Blair today to call for tougher action against global warming. Somewhat surprisingly they include a senior executive from the oil giant Shell. The supermarket chain Tesco and the world’s biggest cell phone company Vodaphone are also represented.

They want British industry to be given stricter limits on the amount of carbon it emits. They argue this will make British firms more energy-efficient and therefore more profitable. And they claim it could also give Britain a lead in the clean energy businesses of the future.

But the UK’s biggest business lobby group the CBI is not persuaded. It has argued consistently that stricter carbon emission targets will damage British competitiveness.

In London this is Stephen Beard for Marketplace.