Blair Warns of Climate Change 'tipping Points'

Tony Blair will warn today that the world will reach "catastrophic tipping points" on climate change within 15 years, unless serious action is taken to tackle global warming.

In his strongest warning yet on the environment, the prime minister will tell fellow EU leaders that the world faces "conflict and insecurity" unless it acts now.

"We have a window of only 10-15 years to take the steps we need to avoid crossing catastrophic tipping points," Mr Blair says, in a joint letter with his Dutch counterpart, Jan Peter Balkenende.

"These would have serious consequences for our economic growth prospects, the safety of our people and the supply of resources, most notably energy. So we must act quickly."

The Anglo-Dutch letter will be presented to EU leaders today at an informal summit in the Finnish city of Lahti, which is a follow up to last year's meeting at Hampton Court during Britain's EU presidency. Britain now believes that it should have done more to promote the dangers of climate change at last year's summit, which focused on drawing up a common EU energy policy.

Mr Blair and Mr Balkenende say in their letter that any debate about the security of energy supplies must also address climate change. They say: "The science of climate change has never been clearer. Without further action, scientists now estimate we may be heading for temperature rises of at least 3-4C above pre-industrial levels."

The two prime ministers argue that Europe faces the "shared dilemma" of the need to boost economic growth, which requires energy, while not threatening the environment. "Much of that energy will be in the form of fossil fuels. The logic of this dilemma is that we must treat energy security and climate security as two sides of the same coin."

Europe should take the lead in making the transition to a low carbon economy, the two leaders say, as they set out a series of goals for Europe. These include strengthening the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme, which caps CO2 emissions; investing more in renewables technology; co-operating more with booming economies such as China; and agreeing a road map to achieve an EU consensus by 2012.

"A historic political choice faces us. The need to respond to climate change can be seen as a burden. Or it can be seen as a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Europe to mobilise the political will and resources to transform and modernise our energy system. The EU must be a frontrunner and continue to lead the way.

Today's meeting will also focus on the EU's relations with Russia. Vladimir Putin, the president of neighbouring Russia, will be guest of honour at a dinner tonight as the EU tries to avoid a repeat of last winter's row between Moscow and Ukraine, which hit gas supplies to the EU.