Action on climate change is not bad for business, it is “the only rational choice”, the Prince of Wales will tell a summit of world leaders meeting to discuss the issue.

In a video message to the UN climate summit in New York tomorrow, Prince Charles will also say that it will not be possible to meet the climate change challenge unless business and government work together.

The Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group is urging governments to use the summit to accelerate ambition and action on tackling climate change.

The business group is calling for politicians to raise their ambition in international negotiations on a new climate treaty, which it is hoped can be agreed in Paris next year, and to commit to concrete actions to drive down greenhouse gas emissions.

In the video message, Prince Charles will say: “The battle against climate change is surely the most defining and pivotal challenge of our times. We cannot meet the climate change challenge unless business and government actively work together.

“Through the work of my Corporate Leaders Group, I am encouraged that more and more businesses are supporting a transformative goal of reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions well before the end of the century.”

His comments come after a global commission issued a report showing that choosing between growth and tackling climate change is a “false dilemma” as the two can be achieved together.

Innovative technology and new investment in cities, energy and agriculture is giving all countries opportunities for economic growth at the same time as cutting emissions, according to the New Climate Economy report from the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate.

More than 120 leaders are expected to attend the climate summit in New York, which has been convened by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to drive action on global warming ahead of the Paris talks in 2015.

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