Tony Blair is seeking a new climate change treaty to persuade the United States to take action on global warming, it has been reported today.

Friends of the Earth International's climate campaigner, Catherine Pearce, said:

"Climate change is the biggest environmental threat the world faces. It is essential that the USA, the world's biggest polluter, joins the global community of 130 nations that have already committed themselves to tackling global warming. Tony Blair should put pressure on George Bush. But unless the President faces up to the scale of the threat we all face, and takes tough action to curb US emissions, the entire planet faces catastrophe - including the USA."

President Bush pulled out of the Kyoto Protocol in 2001, arguing that US business interests would be harmed by the treaty. The United States is responsible for a quarter of the world's carbon dioxide emissions (the principal greenhouse gas), yet it only has around four per cent of the world's population.

Friends of the Earth International climate campaigners are currently, at the COP 10 UN climate talks in Buenos Aires where the United States is trying to water down international commitments to fight climate change.