A committee of peers has urged the government to take action to avert the "potentially devastating" consequences of global warming.

In a report published on Wednesday, the Lords science and technology committee said ministers should urge the US and Russia to sign up to the Kyoto protocol on reducing greenhouse gases.

The peers said that scientists are "near-unanimous" in the belief that a failure to address global warming will have "potentially devastating consequences for the planet".

"Global warming can be combated only by global action," said committee chairman Lord Mitchell.

He pointed to previous agreements, such as the Montreal Protocol on CFCs, as proof that progress is possible.

"The Kyoto protocol will ensure that nations begin to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions," the peer said.

"It gets the process up and running. But it cannot come into force without ratification by the United States or Russia - preferably both.

"The government must do everything in its power to persuade both these countries to take action."

Among the other recommendations contained in the report is a call for an improvement in the scientific expertise available within government departments.

It also calls for academic scientists and industry to take a more prominent role in negotiations, and the promotion of a scientific approach when dealing with risk.

Beckett

Environment secretary Margaret Beckett said in an interview with the Guardian on Wednesday that climate change is being taken seriously by ministers.

The issue is "pretty high up the agenda" for the Cabinet, she insisted, before hinting that more cash and tax incentives may be forthcoming from the chancellor.

"We're always talking to Gordon [Brown] about the things he'd be prepared to do this time round... He does a bit more for the environment every Budget," Beckett said.

She claimed that the prime minister will be taking an international lead on the environment in the next 12 months, ahead of Britain's G8 presidency next year.

"We're seen as people who really care about this; if people expect us to create a greater momentum, and then if we are unable to do so, that would cause a lot of alarm," she said.

"This is a security issue. A lack of water, lack of opportunity to grow food; these are the things that have made human populations move throughout human history. You've only got to look at the archaeological record, never mind the geological record, to see how whole communities have shifted."

Foreign secretary Jack Straw and defence secretary Geoff Hoon have "very much taken that on board" Beckett maintained.