The Guardian Business Section’s Economics editor, Larry Elliott, reports that the cream of British business lobbied Tony Blair last week. Executives from Vodafone, Unilever, BAA, John Lewis Partnership, Tesco, Shell and eight other companies demanded urgent action from the Prime Minister.

Nothing new in that, you may think. Business is forever bending the ear of ministers, and often gets what it’s looking for. What was different in this case was that the blue-chip companies were not seeking lower taxes or a bonfire of red tape, but immediate steps to tackle climate change.

The smarter companies recognise two blindingly obvious facts. The first is that things are going to have to change; the second is that firms (and countries) who jump before they are pushed stand to make money - probably big money - by being bold.

So last week may well prove to have been the tipping point. Campaign groups such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth have been warning for years that time is running out in the battle against climate change. Lobby groups have come up with feasible ways of capping carbon emissions and allocating rights to pollute equitably around the globe. But the reality is that business carries far more clout in Whitehall than any NGO. When it speaks, ministers listen, especially if there is a risk of a political penalty from inactivity, as there is now. Read more at http://www.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/0,,782494,00.html