Climate inaction 'to clobber economies'

A UK climate change envoy fears it's too little action on climate change that will clobber the economies of countries.

The United Kingdom's special climate change envoy has disputed Prime Minister Tony Abbott's assessment that too much action against climate change could clobber countries' economies.

Sir David King, who was the British government's chief scientific adviser from 2000-2007 and was the architect of the country's response to global warming, said the opposite was actually true.

He told AAP at the Pacific Islands Forum in Port Moresby that systemic climate change failures could potentially cause the collapse in the global economy in the future.