Gordon Brown's $100bn climate aid proposal is "only first offering"

The $100bn from rich countries proposed by Gordon Brown to compensate developing countries and help them adapt to climate change is a first offering in the world climate negotiations, international development secretary Douglas Alexander told a meeting at the Labour party conference in Brighton yesterday. The final offer could be greater, he said.

But he admitted that other rich countries had so far not backed Britain and many needed convincing that a settlement on the funding was necessary to secure a global deal at UN talks in Copenhagen in December. "We are working to get other world leaders to get close to that figure," he said. Brown proposed $100bn a year by 2020.

But as the UN talks proceed in Bankok, Alexander said he was optimistic that developing countries would embrace the figure. Meles Zenawi, the president of Ethiopia, who is leading the African block in the global warming talks, is " very positive", he said.

Alexander was backed by energy and climate secretary Ed Miliband, who said the EU should move its position on the greenhouse gas emission cuts it has proposed and the money it had offered, both of which have been described as " woefully inadequate", by developing countries and charities.

"It is imperative for the world to to come to a deal in December, and not to delay the outcome till next year. There is no plan B, no time for another international meeiing. There is a powerful necessity to seize the moment. If we don't, then I fear the consequences," he said.

He urged negotiators meeting at Bankok this week to not treat the climate talks as a traditional trade meeting. "The future depends on us getting a deal, " he said.

But Maria Souviron, Bolivia's ambassador to Britain, said that rich countries not only needed to come up with money but also show real commitment to adopting low carbon economies. "Those producing the harm must be held to account. Developed countries must pay for past, present and future impacts," she said.

"We need real commitment. The money is there. Western countries should start by reducing their spending on arms to pay for climate change," she added.

Melanie Ward, political adviser to Christian Aid, said: "The UK government must exert maximum pressure on the EU and the US if there is to be any hope of reaching afair and effective deal. The EU has offered only €2bn-€15bn, this number must reach at least €35bn annually to deal with devastating impacts of climate change already being seen."

Andy Atkins, director of Friends of the Earth, added: "The UK government has shown leadershiop in putting $100bn on the table, but developing countries need double that amount at least. The rich world has an historic responsibility to make good the damage they have caused."

Separately, a climate scientist warned that the best the world may be able to do is limit global warming to a 4C rise. Kevin Anderson, head of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, said current levels of emissions meant that it was effectively impossible to limit warming to the 2C agreed as necessary by the major nations. "If we do everything we can do then we might have a chance of 4C," he told a conference at Oxford University.

Anderson said new research by his group showed that developed nations would have to peak their carbon emissions in 2012 and then reduce them by three per cent a year to give a 50 per cent chance of limiting temperature rise to 4C. Developing countries such as China would need to peak by 2030.

To stand a chance of hitting 2C, he said, rich countries would need to peak in 2011 and then reduce by eight per cent a year. China and others in the developing world would need to peak in 2025 and switch to 100 per cent renewable energy by 2050. "You have to ask whether that is viable," Anderson said.

This article first appeared on the Guardian

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