Gordon Brown Urges World Leaders to Finance Climate Change Programme

Citing estimates by the government’s former chief economist, Nicholas Stern, Brown said the current world emissions of 50 billion tons need to be reduced further to rein in global warming since industrialized times.

Addressing officials in London from the world’s 17 biggest polluters, including the U.S., China and India, Brown said current emissions reduction pledges would lead to 46 billion tons to 49 billion tons of output of the gases in 2020. That means more action is needed to ensure a global agreement to be reached in Copenhagen in December is effective, he said.

"We are looking for a further 4 to 5 gigatons (billion tons),” Brown said today in a televised address. “I am convinced we can achieve this through a combination of efforts in developed countries, in developing countries and in global reductions in aviation and maritime emissions , " Bloomberg reports.

It was also reported, Gordon Brown has warned the UK faces a "catastrophe" of floods, droughts and killer heatwaves if world leaders fail to agree a deal on climate change.

He addressed the Major Economies Forum in London, which brings together 17 of the world's biggest greenhouse gas-emitting countries where he said there was "no plan B" if agreement was not reached at December's UN summit in Copenhagen.

Negotiators have 50 days to save the world from global warming, he added , BBC News reports .

News agencies also report, r epresentatives of leaders from the 17 countries in the MEF are meeting to try to narrow disagreement on core issues of a climate deal such as finance, governance, technology transfer, mitigation and forestry.

However, there are fears that there isn't enough time remaining until the Copenhagen negotiations to find agreement on the key issues.

Countries are still haggling over how much finance developed countries will give developing nations to help pay for mitigation and adaptation, and key polluters the U.S. and China have yet to offer a concrete number for domestic emissions cuts , The Wall Street Journal reports.

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