Elliot Morley, speaking in Hong Kong on his way to Beijing, said all countries at the coming G8 meeting must work towards new targets for reducing carbon emissions after 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol expires.

The G8 summit of leading world economies, hosted by Germany, is expected to focus on climate change following the latest UN report which concluded that the world must make immediate progress, or face severe consequences.

Morley said that last year's Stern Report, which stressed the economic cost of climate change, left the United States and China with no choice but to act.

"President Bush says that he feels that the economic implications of signing up to Kyoto are more than the US can afford," he said.

"What the Stern Report demonstrated was that the US can't afford not to take action."

"We really need the US to sign up. We really need the involvement of China, and we really need a consensus among the G8 on how we take this forward, leading to an effective agreement that will replace the Kyoto Protocol in 2012.

"A big change in US policy is absolutely inevitable after the US election in 2008 but Bush himself is, I think, changing mentally over this."

Morley, who was also to meet with China's parliament, the National People's Congress, during his Asia trip, said China was not taking the chances presented by its rapid growth.

"The scale and pace of change there is gigantic," he said. "When you've got new development you also have the opportunity to build with the latest technology. That is a huge opportunity which is not being seized at the moment."

However he said that China, which is expected to soon overtake the United States as the world's biggest emitter of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, was not "adverse" to tackling climate change.

Morley, speaking at a forum organised by the Civic Exchange think-tank and the British Consulate-General, said Gordon Brown, who is expected to succeed Blair as premier after the G8 meeting, would pursue similar environmental policies.

The summit on June 6-8 will gather heads of government from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, Britain and the United States.

China and India are among five other countries invited to the talks.

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