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Tackling climate change is essential to our security and prosperity

"Climate change is perhaps the twenty-first century’s biggest foreign policy challenge"
- Foreign Secretary William Hague

The FCO works through its global network of posts to promote international action on climate change:

• ensuring climate change doesn't become a national security risk due to threatened resources
• ensuring the economy is revitalised by green technologies and low carbon businesses
• listening and responding to the concerns of vulnerable countries
• offering energy solutions at an international level.
  

An ambitious global deal remains vital to secure UK's economic interests and energy security. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) host annual meetings – known as Conference of the Parties (COP15) - to assess progress in dealing with climate change.

The next meeting of the Conference of the Parties - COP17 - will be hosted by South Africa on 28 November - 10 December 2011, in Durban.

John Ashton is the Foreign Secretary's Special Representative for Climate Change.

You can get updates on international climate action by following @2degreelimit on Twitter and Storify. You can also subscribe here for email alerts.

UN Climate Summit, Durban

The 2011 UN Climate Summit is hosted by South Africa on 28 November - 10 December.

Low carbon economy

Economic studies have made it clear that the cost of action against climate change now is small while the cost of doing nothing is great.

Security

Climate change will turn things we've taken for granted such as fresh water access into scarce resources.

Vulnerable countries

Vulnerable countries have an important voice in the international debate around how to tackle climate change.

Science

Scientific findings are fundamental to Government's own ability to lead society in the move to the low-carbon future that science says is a necessity.

Useful links

• Climate conversation blogs