Britain's Brown warns of climate 'catastrophe' ahead of talks

Oct 19, 2009, 11:18 GMT

London - Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned Monday of a 'catastrophe' for the planet if the upcoming UN talks on global warming do not produce an agreement on the measures needed to be taken to face up to climate change.

Brown was speaking in front of representatives from 17 countries at the Major Economies Forum in London, ahead of December's talks in Copehagen on a successor treaty to the 1997 Kyoto agreement.

The prime minister warned that economic, human and ecological impact of a failure to cut the emissions driving up temperatures would create costs greater than the impact of the two world wars and the Great Depression.

'We can't afford to fail. If we fail, we pay a heavy price,' the warned, while requesting the world leaders to work together in order to achieve an agreement that would set targets for rich countries to cut their emissions and in same time setting a plan to assist the poor countries to cope with the impact of climate change.

'For the planet, there is no plan B,' he concluded.

There are less than 50 days to the talks, he reminded his audience.