The UK manifesto on the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) was signed by about 40 business and environmental lobby groups, among them the Food and Drink Federation, British Sugar, the Scotch Whisky Association, Alcan, and the British Glass Manufacturers' Confederation.

The manifesto sets out how UK industry wants to see the emissions trading scheme develop after 2012 and calls for the scheme to be enforced so all countries adhere to the rules.

Businesses say they want long term certainty about the future of the scheme so they can plan accordingly to judge the scale of investment required and to make the right, low carbon, investment decisions.

The coalition underscores the food industry's support for the ETS scheme, while calling for a fairer application of the rules so they remain competitive with other EU companies.

"We welcome that the EU ETS has created a price for carbon dioxide emissions," the manifesto stated. "We recognise that all business activities should eventually be exposed to the full costs of greenhouse gas emissions to encourage the required action to mitigate climate change."

The manifesto, which is also signed by government, has been published ahead of this week's meeting of EU heads of state in Brussels where climate change will feature high on the agenda.

UK environment secretary David Miliband said ETS already covers nearly half the carbon emitted in the UK. The UK was behined the push for targeted caps on emissions last year.

"Businesses rightly want long term certainty to influence their investment decisions," he said. "EU environment ministers have responded positively to this call by agreeing to challenging emissions cuts up to 2020. It will be for heads of state to back up this commitment later this week and agree to stretching targets for tackling greenhouse gas emissions."