Blair calls for climate change action

Tony Blair told leaders attending the G8 in Germany that time was slipping away for a deal on climate change, warning: "Now is the time to act."

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The Prime Minister said he remained "hopeful of progress" at the G8 but senior British sources fear the call by President Bush to hold a separate conference in 2008 will leave the world on hold until then.

Barely concealing his frustration at the failure to gain a deal to replace Kyoto agreement before he steps down from office, Mr Blair put the best gloss on the summit but admitted the world leaders needed to "go further" in agreeing targets for cutting harmful CO2 emissions by 2050.

After flying to Berlin for last-minute talks with Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, Mr Blair said: "I think it is good the United States is committed to being part of a global agreement, and has committed to the goal of a substantial reduction in emissions.

"These are commitments that have not been made before. However, we need to go further. We need to make sure we set a clear global target." He said the G8 needed to make sure they could follow that with a global agreement within the UN framework and set out how they would meet the target.

"Yes, there is still a long way to go but, three or four years ago, we were not anywhere near this stage. As ever in politics, we have to say it is good there has been progress and then challenge for further progress."

Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth accused President Bush of wrecking the G8 summit by his call on 15 of the world's biggest polluting countries, including China and India, to agree on a target for reducing greenhouse gases by the end of 2008. Mr Blair is keen to avoid a rift with the White House but British ministers are growing increasingly critical about the Bush administration's refusal to co-operate with the G8 next week in setting targets for tackling climate change.

In a speech to the Globe organisation in the Bundestag parliament building in Berlin, Mr Blair said there was now an "overwhelming consensus" that human activity was altering the world's climate.

And he warned: "We have to make quicker and bolder progress if we are to respond to the scale of the threat we face and the consequences if we fail to act. The science tells us time is running out...

"Given the evidence, given the scale of the disaster should that evidence be correct, it would be grossly, unforgivably irresponsible not to act.We now must move quickly."

Mr Blair also briefed Mrs Merkel on his four-day visit to Africa last week, when he heard appeals from the continent's leaders for the rich world to make good on promises to double aid and write off debts made at the G8 summit at Gleneagles in 2005.