John Kerry to urge climate action in Indonesia address

US Secretary of State John Kerry is to deliver a speech urging the global community to act against climate change, during a visit to Indonesia.

He will make the point that there is scientific proof of climate change threatening not only the environment, but also the world economy.

Mr Kerry is due to give his address on Sunday in the capital, Jakarta, as part of a regional tour.

The US, along with China, is the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases.

On Saturday, both nations issued a joint statement pledging to do more to curb their carbon dioxide output.

Steps include reducing car emissions and improving the energy efficiency of buildings.

'Point of no return'

Mr Kerry, who started his tour in South Korea on Thursday, arrived in Indonesia on Saturday after visiting China.

It is part of President Obama's "pivot to Asia" policy, begun in 2012, shifting the US foreign policy focus more towards Asia and away from Europe and the Middle East.

In his Jakarta speech, Mr Kerry will underscore the way in which climate change is impacting Asian countries.

"Secretary Kerry will deliver remarks on the compelling and undeniable scientific case of this growing challenge, that is pushing the planet towards a tipping point of no return", a senior state department official said.

Mr Kerry wants to help broker a global climate treaty in 2015 that will commit the US and other nations to historic reductions in fossil fuel pollution, the BBC's Washington correspondent Kim Ghattas reports.

The talks in Paris next year are aimed at finding a new international climate agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol which ends in 2020. The US never ratified the Kyoto agreement, signed in 1997.

Environmental groups have criticised President Barack Obama for not doing more to reduce US carbon dioxide emissions.

On Saturday, the US and China said they would "collaborate through enhanced policy dialogue, including the sharing of information regarding their respective post-2020 plans to limit greenhouse gas emissions".

Last year, a landmark report by the UN's climate panel found scientists were 95% certain that humans were the "dominant cause" of global warming since the 1950s.