10:10 launches in London

The Guardian newspaper is championing a new campaign that brings together an unprecedented coalition of scientists, companies, celebrities and organisations spanning the cultural and political spectrum who have committed to slash their carbon emissions as part of an ambitious campaign to tackle global warming. The 10:10 campaign, which launched today at London's Tate Modern, aims to bolster grassroots support for tough action against global warming ahead of the key global summit in Copenhagen in December. Organisations who sign up for the campaign pledge to make efforts to reduce their carbon footprints by 10% during the year 2010 and those committed include Tottenham Hotspur FC, online grocer Ocado, the Tate Galleries and the Women's Institute as well as dozens of schools, universities and NHS trusts. Four of the major energy companies, British Gas owner Centrica, E.ON, EDF and Scottish and Southern, have promised to help customers hit their 10:10 targets by providing information on how their energy use compares with past consumption. And a huge number of celebrities and scientists have pledged their support ranging from the climate change experts Chris Rapley and Lord Stern to Radio 1 DJ Sara Cox, chefs Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Delia Smith, screenwriter Richard Curtis, directors Richard Eyre and Mike Figgis, designers Nicole Farhi and Vivienne Westwood, TV presenter Kevin McCloud and actors including Samantha Morton, Jason Isaacs, Pete Postlethwaite, Colin Firth and Tamsin Greig. The Guardian also reports that a clutch of Britain's most eminent artists including Anish Kapoor, Anthony Gormley and Gillian Wearing have pledged to cut their emissions as have several literary heavyweights including Ian McEwan, Sarah Waters, Irvine Welsh, Anthony Horowitz, Antony Beevor, Ali Smith, Carol Ann Duffy and Andrew Motion.The campaign organisers, led by film maker Fanny Armstrong (The Age of Stupid) said the campaign aimed to convince Ed Miliband, the energy and climate change secretary, to take the significant step of committing Britain to slash its emissions by as close to 10% as possible by the end of next year and take lead at Copenhagen saying “Britain is going to step forward and start cutting as quickly as the science demands, that could potentially break the deadlock in the international negotiations."http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/10-10http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/01/1010-climate-campaign-coalition-emissions