The effects of climate change pose a major threat to global prosperity and security. A few years ago, the UK Government funded the Stern Review on the economics of climate change. Its findings were stark: climate change will pose dramatic challenges to human well-being, including the risk of losing the equivalent of 5-20% of global GDP each year.

For example, as Himalayan glaciers melt, the vast numbers of people who live close to Asia’s major rivers – the Ganges, the Yellow River and the Yangtze – will face flooding and then water shortages. Climate change has already played a significant role in Australia’s drought, which has seen failed harvests in the world's second-largest wheat producer. Sea level rises could expose trillions of dollars worth of property to coastal flooding in port cities such as New York, Rotterdam and Tokyo.

Read the latest UK Climate Change projections

Climate change also threatens the future development of poor countries. Rising sea levels, floods, droughts, increased climate shocks, and lower farm yields will jeopardise hard-won progress in the battle against poverty. Regions like sub-Saharan Africa, which are least responsible for the problem, will suffer most.

Because of the huge implications of climate change for the UK and the rest of the world, the FCO is working with the international community and in conjunction with other key UK departments (particularly the Departments for Energy and Climate Change, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and for International Development) to take action that is both rapid and ambitious. This issue matters to the whole of government because its impact will be felt by everyone in the UK and worldwide. That's why the Foreign Office has a clear and necessary role to play.