September 2004 – The UK Prime Minister at the time, the Rt Hon Tony Blair MP, delivered the London Lecture of The Prince of Wales’s Business & Sustainability Programme (BSP)
The UK Prime Minister at the time, the Rt Hon Tony Blair MP, delivered the London Lecture of The Prince of Wales’s Business & Sustainability Programme (BSP) on 14 September, 2004. This lecture marked the tenth anniversary of the Business & Sustainability Programme, and welcoming Mr Blair, HRH The Prince of Wales affirmed the importance of political commitment to the sustainability agenda: "Achieving sustainable development is a task for the whole of society. Each sector, and particularly the business community, will need to play its part in that process, but the one absolutely essential ingredient – without which we can’t hope to, or even begin to, make progress, especially, and crucially, in the two areas of climate change and the protection of future fish stocks – is political commitment." Mr Blair called on business to take a leadership role, emphasising that: "British scientists, innovators and business people can lead the world in ways to grow and develop sustainably."
Following the London Lecture, a group of business leaders was convened by CISL and formed The Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group.
