Europe must be bold

They say a day can be a long time in politics. A year is time enough for everything to change. Last winter I was still having to convince some people - politicians, businessmen, members of the public - of the threat posed by climate change. Twelve months on that scepticism has evaporated: no serious scientist or commentator is in any doubt as to the scale and the immediacy of that threat. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has laid out the stark facts and the unequivocal evidence. Politicians across the world - not least in Europe - are expected to respond.

Today's European Council is a decisive moment. It has the potential to mark the transition from mankind identifying the problem and raising the alarm, to us banding together and taking the action needed. On the table is a package of proposals and targets that are specific, ambitious and, given the necessary political will, achievable. They can be effective not just against increasing instability in our climate but against increasing insecurity in our energy supplies - something that is a primary concern of every European government and citizen.

The fine details of that package are still being negotiated. But I know what I want to see: a commitment, in the context of a possible international agreement, to reduce emissions by 30 per cent by 2020; a commitment, in any case, for an independent, binding EU-wide target to reduce emissions by at least 20 per cent by 2020; a clear EU statement that we need to cut global emissions by up to 50 per cent on 1990 levels by 2050; a goal of reducing energy use by a fifth by 2020, through energy efficiency measures; and a stated ambition for all new fossil fuel power stations to be fitted with carbon capture and storage by 2020.

There are three reasons why Europe has to grasp this chance to make a difference. The first is the greatest. Simply, if we do not begin to take serious action now, it will already be too late. A stable climate underpins human life itself; it governs the food we can grow, the land we can use, the water we can drink. The very safety and security of our society, in other words, depends upon it. That stable climate is already changing and will continue to change, forcing us to adapt. But we can only adapt so far. We also have to act to cut emissions if we are to avoid the most catastrophic scenarios predicted by scientists. For governments that means giving businesses and consumers the long-term certainty needed to start shifting investment towards low-carbon products and processes. The money is there but people need to be sure that we are serious about climate change. The EU proposals show that we are.

The second reason is connected to the first. Climate security is an issue where the European Union can show leadership not just within our own borders but globally. By its very nature, this is a problem that the world can only solve together - emissions anywhere create pollution everywhere. But we face what is sometimes called the "prisoners' dilemma" or elsewhere "the free-rider problem". No one is willing to act first, possibly at their own cost, on behalf of the common good.

Europe can free the world from that trap. We can take the first step towards building the world's first competitive, energy secure, low carbon economy - and since we in the developed world have been responsible for the majority of emissions to date, we should. Such a move would be hugely symbolic. But it would also be utterly practical. The former Chief Economist at the World Bank, Nick Stern, has carried out the most comprehensive analysis yet of the economics of climate change. He has shown that if we act now the costs of tackling climate change are manageable; if we delay they become increasingly less so and, if we do nothing, the global economy could be crippled. More than that, Europe can turn the "prisoners dilemma" on its head, by showing that moving first is not a disadvantage, but an advantage. Moving away from old, inefficient technologies, investing in renewable and advanced technologies, building a fully functioning market in carbon, increasing our energy efficiency - these are ways to make and save money, to grow our economies and to secure the predictable and reliable energy supplies we need to power our economies. Breaking the false dichotomy between economic growth on the one hand and climate and energy security on the other will be vital if we are to convince the developing world to follow our lead.

The third and final reason is less about climate security and energy security and more about Europe itself. The European Union is 50 this year. In the next 50 years its task will be the same - to bring prosperity and security above and beyond that which individual governments can guarantee - but the challenges will be different.

Being bold on climate change will show a European Union ready and able to take effective action on an issue which the people of Europe care passionately about and which has the potential to affect in a most direct and fundamental way the lives of every one of us.

Ms Beckett is the UK Foreign Secretary.