Blair, Brown and Boris join for Together climate drive

LONDON - Climate change group Together has launched an online film bringing three unlikely figures together, as Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Boris Johnson celebrate the group's first birthday, alongside celebrities and new partners Coca-Cola, Warner Bros and MySpace.

The film, called 'Together, We Can', also features international stars including England goal keeper David James, supermodel Claudia Schiffer, singer songwriter Annie Lennox and TV presenter June Sarpong.

The celebrities appear alongside former prime minister Blair, his successor Brown, and new .

It will be emailed to 1,300 of the most influential UK individuals on climate change, and widely distributed online via sites such as YouTube, thelondonpaper, MySpace and MSN.

In just one year, Together claims to have helped British consumers save half a million tonnes of CO2 and £100m on household bills.

These savings were delivered by 20m simple consumer actions, such as switching to low energy light-bulbs, washing at 30 degrees, installing home insulation, switching to green energy tariffs and not upgrading mobile phones.

The climate change summit coincided with the publication of Together's Savers' Guide at , outlining how "going green" can help people cope with rocketing prices and rising costs of living.

Blair said: "I helped launch Together last year and it is encouraging to see millions of actions taken by the British public and over 500,000 tonnes of CO2 saved.

"We now need to build on this momentum and make it easy for everyone to become part of the solution to climate change, not the problem."

Together's new partners, which also include The National Trust, Business in the Community and Wrap, were announced by Channel 4 news presenter Jon Snow at a climate change summit in Lambeth Palace yesterday.

In addition, founding partners including B&Q, Barclaycard, British Gas, BSkyB, Marks & Spencer, National Express, 02 and Tesco renewed existing commitments to the campaign.

They also announced a number of initiatives to help UK consumers looking for easy ways to tackle climate change and cut household bills.

New pledges included:

  • An offer from B&Q to install free loft insulation for 2.7m Diamond Club members who are over 70.
  • An insurance product from RSA and The National Trust rewarding people for having more energy efficient cars and homes.
  • Initiatives from National Express to wean people off the plane and onto the train.
  • A home insulation service from Tesco.

David Hall, campaign director at Together said: "Today's exciting new carbon-saving announcements will boost consumer action on climate change at a time when people are feeling the pinch from rocketing prices.

"Our expanded coalition will bring millions more members into contact with the campaign over the coming months."