Some of the European Union's largest companies have come out in support of moves by the UK, France and Germany to shift the EU to a higher greenhouse gas emissions reduction target.

"By moving to a higher target, the EU will have a direct impact on the carbon price through to 2020 and deliver the economic signals that companies need if they are to continue investing billions of euros in low carbon products, services, technologies and infrastructure," the 27 business leaders argue in a letter published simultaneously in The Financial Times, Le Monde and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

"European leadership will also help rebuild the international momentum towards an ambitious, robust and equitable global deal on climate change," the leaders say.

The letter is in response to an article published in the same newspapers last Thursday in which the climate change ministers for the UK, Germany and France set out the economic benefits for increasing Europe's climate change targets for 2020 from 20 percent to 30 percent.

The cross sector group of businesses behind letter includes many household names such as Asda, Barilla, BT, Deutsche Telecom, Lloyds Banking Group, Nestle, Philips, Skai, Tesco, Thames Water and Vodafone as well as sector leaders such as Acciona, Allianz, Beluga Shipping, Centrica, Otto Group and Kingfisher.

The letter is an initiative of The University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership (CPSL) which works with business, government and civil society to help leaders address critical global challenges.