TONY BLAIR is increasingly confident that he can persuade President Bush to usher in a new era of climate change talks as well as poverty relief for Africa as he leaves for Washington today.

The Prime Minister’s optimism on finding a way to tackle global emissions has been boosted by the agreement of China and India to discuss the issue as guests of the G8 summit next month, The Times has learnt. Downing Street believes that the White House is ready to consider long-term goals for reducing harmful emissions provided that China and India also sign up to the process.

The key reason for President Bush’s rejection of the Kyoto Protocol four years ago was that it did not bind these nations to any targets. A deal at the G8 which included China and India, as well as Brazil which is also attending, would cover 80 per cent of the world’s harmful emissions — more than Kyoto, senior sources said yesterday. Insiders said that Mr Blair was “furious” at the apparent lack of progress on climate change indicated in a leak of a draft Gleneagles communiqué, which contained no timetable for action. There has been a lot of work and progress since the draft was drawn up in May but the success of Mr Blair’s initiative will not become clear until the summit on July 6.

It is understood that China, the world’s second-largest producer of carbon dioxide emissions, will be represented at Gleneagles by Hu Jintao, the President. Downing Street has already announced that Mr Blair plans to visit China and India in the months after the summit.

“There are people in the Bush administration who are prepared to have a conversation about emissions if China and India are part of the dialogue,” one source said yesterday. “But a breakthrough is only possible with the US, China and India in the same room.” Downing Street believes that there could be a breakthrough if an agreement can assuage Chinese and Indian fears about the effects of climate change, such as flooding which threatens food crops. Pressure is also mounting in the US from the private sector and the insurance industry which fears the impact of climatic disasters.

Mr Blair will use his private dinner with President Bush at the White House tomorrow night to explore just how far the US is prepared to go if China and India are brought into the fold.

Despite Mr Bush’s rejection of Gordon Brown’s proposals for an international finance facility to almost triple aid to Africa, there is also optimism that a deal with the US is close on scrapping African debt repayments to organisations such as the World Bank. Mr Brown said it would be a crucial week for Britain’s ambitions with EU finance ministers meeting tomorrow and the G7 finance ministers (the G8 minus Russia) gathering in London on Friday.

“All the detail of what we can agree will be being thrashed out over the next few days,” he told the GMTV Sunday programme. Mr Brown also disclosed that he has written to oil-rich Gulf states seeking support for African aid.

The Tories will seek today to raise the environment higher up their own agenda with a keynote speech by Oliver Letwin, the Shadow Environment Secretary. He will say that green policy should be recognised as “nothing less than the achievement of beauty, both natural and man-made”.

Mr Letwin will begin to reverse a perception that the environment is a secondary concern of his party. Access to a beautiful environment should not just be something available to the super-rich who can buy their way out of inner city congestion and slums, he will add.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Science News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Time-worn Freddie gives up Test matches
• Brighton company 'involved in cyber attack'
• The art of survival: it’s all in the mind