In a highly unusual move, the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition have agreed to work together across party lines to tackle climate change.

The agreement follows the launch of The Climate Coalition’s SHOW THE LOVE campaign which has reached millions across the UK, thousands of whom are wearing green hearts and telling the world what they love that could be lost to climate change.

 David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg have jointly pledged:

• To seek a fair, strong, legally binding, global climate deal which limits temperature rises to below 2°C.
• To work together, across party lines, to agree carbon budgets in accordance with the Climate Change Act.
• To accelerate the transition to a competitive, energy efficient low carbon economy and to end the use of unabated coal for power generation.

The agreement comes after commentators have questioned UK political commitment to climate action. Business investors have also asked for more certainty about the UK’s low carbon direction. The cross-party agreement includes commitments to seek a strong global climate deal and to end the use of unabated coal in power generation.

The agreement has been widely welcomed across the political spectrum and from business leaders.

 Juergen Maier, CEO, Siemens plc, said:

“The low-carbon transition represents a major economic opportunity and a consistent UK policy framework was a crucial factor in Siemens’ decision to make a multi-million pound investment in wind turbine production and installation facilities in Hull.  This demonstration of cross-party support sends a clear message that the UK remains a good place for global companies to do low-carbon business."

Nicholas Stern, Co-Chair of the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate and author of the keynote Stern Review on climate change, has also welcomed the UK political parties’ joint pledge to act on the issue.

He said:

 “I am glad to see the leaders of the three main Westminster parties giving their support to strong international and domestic action on climate change. The next UK Government will need to ensure a step change in the pace of the transition to a low-carbon economy in order to meet the statutory carbon budgets and to decarbonise the power sector by 2030.”

“A key part will be to end emissions from coal, which are twice those from natural gas per unit of electricity generated. The Coalition Government has already introduced regulations to prevent the construction of any new coal-fired power stations unless they are equipped with carbon capture and storage technology. We now need to bring a speedy end to coal-burning by existing power stations which release carbon dioxide and other pollutants into the atmosphere.”

2015 is a pivotal year for climate change negotiations which run all year and culminate in the December Paris summit.