In Washington, over 75 businesses, including BP, eBay, Nike, Mars, Microsoft, Nestlé, PepsiCo, Shell, Tesla and Unilever are meeting with federal lawmakers to call on Congress to pass meaningful climate legislation in the US, including placing a price on carbon.

The Lawmaker Education & Advocacy Day (LEAD) on carbon pricing is the largest business gathering to advocate for climate legislation in over a decade, with participating businesses including 21 Fortune 500 companies, as well as businesses from 50 states, collectively representing combined annual revenues of more than $2.5tr.

Molly Fogarty, senior vice president of Government and Public Affairs at Nestlé, commented: “At Nestlé, we understand that climate change is one of the biggest risks to the future of our business, and we are already feeling its impacts up and down our supply chain. We remain committed to using clean energy, but the nation’s current systems and infrastructure do not support our ambition to strive for zero environmental impact in our operations by 2030. That is why we stand with more than 75 companies, including members of the Sustainable Food Policy Alliance, to urge Congress to pass meaningful climate legislation, including a price on carbon.”

At least in part, the call can be seen as businesses attempting to address their own long-term sustainability as well as appeasing more active shareholders, whilst at the same time seeking that they will be on a level playing field and not at a commercial disadvantage to those companies less inclined to protect the environment.

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