Global 'green club' of companies will fight climate change and poverty

'Club' of companies will reserve five per cent of their profits

Jeremy Leggett’s solar panel company, SolarCentury, transfers 5 per cent of its profit to its own charity, SolarAid (Getty)

One of Britain’s leading environmental entrepreneurs, Jeremy Leggett, is setting up a “club” of companies that will reserve five per cent of their profits for causes that fight climate change and alleviate global poverty.

Mr Leggett, who has advised the World Economic Forum on green energy, said that he has already had unsolicited emails of interest from a dozen companies, including some of the biggest in the US, interested in the 5 per cent For-Climate-and-Development Club, which will be launched later this year.

He believes it will allow investments of “billions of pounds” in projects over the next decade.

Mr Leggett said: “[The club] is a microcosm of what developed countries are going to have to care about in the developing world. Sadly, history shows we cannot expect most shareholders to care about that.”

The idea is based on Mr Leggett’s solar panel company, SolarCentury, which transfers 5 per cent of its profit to its own charity, SolarAid.