Before Copenhagen, according to an analysis by the European Climate Foundation (ECF), a not-for-profit organisation devoted to climate policy, these commitments added up to an annual reduction of 3.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, compared with business as usual, by 2020.

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Kathryn Shillito, city centre manager for Hull BID, said she understood businesses were struggling in the current economic climate, but said the organisation was doing its best to support local shops.

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It also proves unequivocally that organisational climate predicts the performance of the organisation.

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Mr Pugh, who currently works in London, has taken up the Thames challenge to draw attention to a campaign by environment organisation WWF (formerly World Wildlife Fund) to stop climate change.

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Dick James, of Northern Ireland's Fish Producers Organisation, said the problem of low cod stocks was down to climate change rather than overfishing.

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They see a management team struggling to fix a huge and complex organisation, whose flaws were created by a previous team of executives, in a terrible financial climate not of RBS's making.

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The organisation said the ambitious target of a 42% reduction in the 1990 levels of emissions linked to climate change would need some significant action.

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