German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned that the warming of the planet may increase by as much as 4 degrees Celsius if nations do not agree on better climate-protection measures.
Merkel demanded a legally binding climate treaty that forces nations to cut emissions of greenhouse gases during a two-day Berlin climate conference called the Petersberg Climate Dialogue.
"A binding (climate) treaty - and I say that very frankly - would be music to my ears. Because so far we don't have that. Until now the position regarding the joint responsibility was 'it doesn't to have to be binding for all,'" Merkel said, addressing the conference.
More than 190 nations agreed at UN climate talks in Durban last year to be legally bound to cut emissions from 2020 and to launch a Green Climate Fund by 2020 that will help funnel $100 billion per year of investment to poor countries.
But despite launching the fund, there has been no agreement on how to fill it.
The number of world leaders that attend annual UN climate talks has become a crude barometer of the importance of climate change in global politics.
In 2009, before the crumbling global economy dominated the news agenda, over 100 world leaders attended UN talks in Copenhagen. The Chinese premier and the US president, among others, tried to thrash out a new deal to force nations to cut their greenhouse gas emissions.
Merkel also defended a "necessary shrinking of the economies in the eurozone" as a part of a reform process in order to achieve "sustainable growth".
She said that Europe accumulated too much debt in the past and that must be corrected.
"But that reform means a necessary shrinking as part of a process of adjustment, in order to grow after that in a sustainable way, then there is a broad discussion in the world saying this can not be, growth in quantity is necessary."
However, she said it is a mistake only to strive for quantity in economic, financial, and environmental politics. Sustainability is also very important, she said.
3 News / Reuters