Extreme weather events such as the UK's winter floods could make global action to tackle climate change more likely, a senior peer has suggested.

The chairman of the Government's climate advisory committee, Lord Deben, said it was becoming increasingly clear predictions of extreme weather were coming true, and climate "deniers or dismissers" were seeing their arguments against action debunked.

But the former Tory environment secretary warned those at the other end of the scale that they had to recognise the need to cut emissions in the most cost-effective manner to maintain public support for climate action.

Ahead of a meeting of lawmakers from around the world to discuss efforts to get national legislation on climate in place in support of a global deal, he said the outlook for securing agreement was better than when UN climate talks failed in Copenhagen in 2009.

Lord Deben, chairman of the Committee on Climate Change and honorary president of Global Legislators Organisation (Globe), organisers of the world summit, said one of the reasons for this was the growing evidence of climate change.

"It's more and more clear to people that the weather patterns which we were warned about turn out to be happening. Of course no one of them is caused by climate change, no one is suggesting that who knows the science."

But he said there was no doubt that, with a warmer atmosphere, the weather events that would have happened anyway were worse and "things are beginning to happen that would not have happened".

He added: "I think in this country the floods had a real effect, and there will be other things."

He said climate deniers focused on particular arguments which were being exposed as false, such as the notion Antarctic ice was increasing when new studies showed unstoppable melting under way - a situation he described as "terrifying" for its impact on sea levels.

Despite the clearer signals the climate is changing, the the UK government has been accused of pandering to climate sceptics by cutting subsidies for renewables such as solar power and onshore wind.

But Lord Deben backed moves to reduce subsidies for large scale solar farms, saying it was up to the Treasury to ensure the £7.6 billion earmarked for green energy up to 2020 was spent wisely, and said onshore wind was not an "iconic argument".



The issues which really mattered were ensuring budgets for reducing emissions for the 2020s were maintained and bringing in a goal to slash pollution from the power sector," he said, adding "These are the ones I am implacable about".

The world summit of legislators in Mexico is set to agree to review and strengthen national climate laws, and to call for an international agreement which puts national legislation at its heart to meet the goal of keeping temperatures rises to no more than 2C.

A recent study by Globe showed that 66 countries, accounting for 88% of global emissions, have passed climate laws.

While most countries were already taking action to tackle rising temperatures - another reason why a deal might be achieved at the crunch climate talks in Paris next year - Lord Deben singled out two countries, Australia and Canada, for criticism.

Australia in particular, where the government has repealed climate change and environmental laws, was behaving "appallingly".

"I think the Australian government must be one of the most ignorant governments I've ever seen in the sense, right across the board, on immigration or about anything else, they're totally unwilling to listen to science or logic," he said.

This week US President Barack Obama announced measures to cut emissions from power stations, while China has also unveiled plans for a cap on its emissions, raising hope for progress on international talks, the latest round of which is taking place in Bonn.

Executive secretary of the UN's climate body, Christiana Figueres, said: "It is no exaggeration that the clean revolution we need is being carried forward by legislation.

"Domestic legislation is critical because it is the linchpin between action on the ground and the international agreement. At the national level it is clear that when countries enact clean energy policies, investment follows.

"At the international level, it is equally clear that domestic legislation opens the political space for international agreements and facilitates overall ambition."



Figueres told the Guardian in March that "very strange" weather experienced around the world over the last two years had a "silver lining" of galvanising action on climate change.