Speaking in New York, the foreign secretary has urged the private sector to tackle global warming.
Margaret Beckett warned Wall Street executives that tackling global warming is "a business imperative, not a business choice".
"Climate insecurity means greater global insecurity," she said.
"That is a problem for politicians like me, but it is a problem for business too. It makes managing commercial risk much harder."
The introduction of key environmental agreements and measures already decided on are being brought in too slowly, Beckett believes.
"The first phase of Kyoto was not synchronised with natural cycles of capital stock replacement," she said.
"One of the key emerging findings of his work is that while it won't cost the earth to solve climate change, it will cost the earth, literally and financially, if we don't.
"A successful response to climate change requires a deeper level of engagement between investors and policymakers."
The minister added that politicians need to know from business leaders what incentives and penalties will work, amongst other things - and investors needed to know what governments expect from the policies.
And she argued that businesses and governments must adopt a "change in mindset" and communicate better to deal with the potentially devastating effects of climate change.
