British Prime Minister David Cameron has urged Tony Abbott to take out more insurance against climate change even if he doesn’t believe in the threat.

Attending the G20 summit in Brisbane, Mr Cameron said that at the next climate change talks in Paris every country had to bring something more to the table.

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“But obviously countries that have so far done the least need to think about what more they can do and I’ve had good and friendly conversations with Prime Minister Abbott about that.”

When asked if Mr Abbott’s scrapping of the carbon tax and cuts to renewable energy went against the trend of climate change action, Mr Cameron said Australia had set a cut in carbon emissions of some 5 per cent.

He said the Australian government saw that as an actual cut of 19 per cent if Australia had carried on with business as usual.

“I hope they’ll do everything they can in the coming months to look at what more they can deliver because when it comes to Paris, if you want to get a global agreement, everyone’s going to have to bring something to the table.”

Mr Cameron said it made sense to insure against climate change.

“I always say, think about it like insurance, even if you don’t believe in the nature of this threat, isn’t it better to insure against it?

“You might think there’s only a 10 per cent chance of your house burning down but even if it’s that percentage chance wouldn’t you do something to try and make sure you can save your world, your environment for your children and your grandchildren?”

Mr Cameron said he had already had that conversation with Mr Abbott.