EU must lead on carbon - Miliband

Mr Miliband said the EU could combat a global "resource crunch"

Europe should lead the world in moving to a low-carbon economy, Foreign Secretary David Miliband has said.

This would help counter the "resource crunch" which has seen fuel and food prices surge in the past year, he argued in a speech in London.

Mr Miliband said switching to renewable and nuclear energy could help make the world less reliant on undemocratic but fuel-rich regimes.

He also said he would not take on the Labour leadership in the near future.

'One voice'

Speaking at the London School of Economics, Mr Miliband said pushing for "carbon independence" could give new meaning to the European Union, which had already achieved peace and stability in western Europe and democracy in eastern Europe.

He said: "We are stronger if the EU speaks with one voice, engages multi-laterally rather than bilaterally."

We risk a scramble for resources, with each nation pitted against the other David Miliband

Mr Miliband, a former Environment Secretary, added that the UK created about 2% of global man-made emissions, while Europe accounted for 14%.

The UK was responsible for less than 4.5% of global trade in goods and services and Europe almost 40%.

The foreign secretary said: "Europe's goal should be to drive not just a low-carbon transition in Europe but beyond - using regulation, markets and negotiating positions that set the global benchmark."

The EU should "lead the way" on a post-Kyoto deal to cut emissions after 2012.

Mr Miliband said: "We face a new resource crunch, with spiralling energy and food prices as well as water shortages.

"Its origins are carbon dependence. Its consequences are not just economic and environmental, but geopolitical. We risk a scramble for resources, with each nation pitted against the other.

"The alternative is a transition from a global economy dependent on oil and gas to a low-carbon economy with a diverse mix of energy sources and suppliers.

"And the best way to set a new global course, in fact the only real means at our disposal, is through leadership from the European Union - the largest single market in the world, with the clout to set global standards."

Election 'kicking'

He was later asked on BBC 2's Newsnight whether a third runway at Heathrow Airport was compatible with a low-carbon economy.

"It doesn't matter if we reduce them [carbon levels] from buildings or from aviation or from surface transport," he said.

The best rule in politics [is] if you start worrying about you're next job you loose your current one, and I want to do the job I'm doing at the moment David Miliband on whether he would bid to be Labour leader

"It doesn't matter how we get the carbon reductions down, what matters is that they come down in total."

He also backed Gordon Brown as the "right" prime minister and said that Labour had got a "kicking" in the local elections last week because for the first time a "dual crunch" was hitting voters' pockets.

"You've got pressure on mortgages, but you've also got pressure on food and fuel. That has never happened before," he added.

Asked by Jeremy Paxman how long he could resist calls for him to take on the burden of leadership, he said he nurtured ambitions, but to be "a very, very good foreign secretary in a Labour government".

He added: "What makes me get up in the morning is actually the job I've got.

"And the best rule in politics [is] if you start worrying about you're next job you loose your current one, and I want to do the job I'm doing at the moment."