U.N.'s Ban urges business to back climate policies

By Anna Ringstrom and Gerard Wynn

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Industry should play its part in the fight against climate change by persuading governments to aid carbon cuts rather than lobbying against them, the U.N. Secretary-General told a business conference on Sunday.

Business leaders met in Denmark to try to unite behind a common call for long-term climate policies, ahead of a U.N. conference in December meant to forge a new climate treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol.

"For those who are directly or implicitly lobbying against climate action I have a clear message: your ideas are out of date and you are running out of time," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told a meeting of more than 500 business leaders.

"The smart money is on the green economy," he said. "Leaders sometimes are weak because they are short-sighted to get the votes," he added, urging businesses to lobby for carbon cuts.

Danish Environment, Climate and Energy Minister Connie Hedegaard, who hosts the U.N.-led December conference, said Denmark's exports of wind power technologies were proof that fighting climate change could be lucrative.

"That's the message to businesses here: put pressure on governments, that this is not just about idealism," she said.

The May 24-26 World Business Summit on Climate Change brings together top executives from energy and technology companies and political leaders.

Ban, in an interview with Reuters, also said that a draft U.S. climate bill, which aims to cut U.S. greenhouse gases by 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, did not go far enough.