3. What outcomes his Department is seeking to achieve at the Cancun conference on the UN framework convention on climate change in December 2010. (15495)

The new coalition Government are absolutely committed to achieving an ambitious global deal to cut emissions sufficiently to keep the rise in global temperatures below 2°C and also to providing support to developing countries in adapting to the inevitable consequences of climate change. However, although we are not raising expectations of a legally binding treaty being achieved at Cancun, we want to see substantive progress at COP 16.

I thank the Minister for that comprehensive response, on which I hope we have a debate in the House soon. Does he accept that climate finance is critical to reaching an effective agreement? We need the UN advisory group on climate finance, on which the Secretary of State sits, to provide not only a menu of options for the future, but concrete recommendations that can be agreed now.

My hon. Friend is absolutely right that the Secretary of State is an important member of that group. Its report will be published later in the year. Here in the UK, we are taking an active role in trying to develop the private sector solutions that must be part of the overall funding package for developing countries, both in adaptation and mitigation.