Hopes climate warning will prompt action

A new push to combat climate change will be announced by Gordon Brown this week, in the wake of a major international report.

The document, which follows six years of research compiled by the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, declares that climate systems have already unquestionably begun to change.

It says this is happening at a quickening pace because of human activity, with the evidence in warmer air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting snow and ice and rising sea levels.

The Prime Minister is now set to outline further ways in which Britain can cut its carbon emissions.

Experts are speculating that he will concentrate on boosting Britain's use of renewable energy, encouraging the use of wind and tidal power.

Mr Brown is also asking the UK's independent climate change committee to report on whether the target of a 60 per cent reduction in Britain's emissions by 2050 should be even more stringent.

Europe's leaders agreed in March that a fifth of the bloc's energy should come from renewable sources by 2020, and there has been concern about whether Britain is on course to meet its share of the commitment.

UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon said the world must work together to deal with the issue of global warming.

And he urged: "Concentrated and sustained action can still avoid some of the most catastrophic scenarios."

He said the UN climate change conference in Bali next month "is the opportunity to provide political answers to these scientific findings".

Mr Brown said it was vital that the meeting would have negotiations "on a comprehensive global agreement on tackling climate change".

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