According to the UK foreign secretary, the global community's efforts to reach a post-Kyoto climate deal in Copenhagen at the end of the year are in danger.
"The greatest danger of all is that amidst the competing priorities of economic recovery, Afghanistan and nuclear non-proliferation we fail to see the problem until it is too late," writes Miliband.
Miliband's statement came after reports that the EU is to offer a modest sum of 15 billion euros a year to help poorer countries cope with the effects of climate change (EurActiv 09/11/09).
"The EU thrives on big projects: peace and reconciliation after the Second World War, the single market, the euro and enlargement. The next big project for the EU – the environmental union – is to be the catalyst for a world beyond carbon," says Miliband.
The UK foreign secretary reckons that if developing nations know that rich countries are prepared to shoulder their responsibility, they will step up to the mark.
"We need to generate trust and momentum in the run-up to Copenhagen [...] We need more game-changing interventions in the next three months," he adds, calling for a finance offer of 100 billion dollars annually by 2020 to enable poorer countries to begin the transition to low-carbon development and adaptation.
To gather momentum for his ideas, the UK foreign secretary is currently touring a number of European capitals to up the ante in the Copenhagen debate.
He says the deal is "not just desirable, but an imperative for national security and sustained economic recovery over the medium term, on a par with the fight against terrorism".
In Miliband's view, climate change will result in mass migration, drought, and water shortages causing tension and conflict within and between nations. "Global warming may not be on the UN Security Council Agenda now, but it will be in future if we do not wean ourselves off carbon," he says.
The biggest obstacle to a deal in Copenhagen is a fair distribution of responsibility between developing and developed nations, writes Miliband. "Climate change is not a zero-sum game and we should not adopt zero-sum tactics. If we wait until the negotiations in Copenhagen to reveal our hand in order to squeeze the best deal out of other countries, the deal will either not happen or be insufficiently ambitious," he reckons.
To read Mr Miliband's commentary in full, please click here.
