Tony Blair arrived in Tokyo today as part of the 'Breaking The Climate Deadlock' initiative which will take him to Japan, China and India in the next seven days for talks with leading business and political figures.

The project is being conducted by The Climate Group, an independent, not-for-profit organisation that works internationally with government and business leaders to advance climate change solutions and accelerate a low carbon economy. They have convened, at the instigation of Tony Blair, a set of experts, to try to devise the framework capable of getting the developed world, including of course the USA, and the developing world, including China and India into a comprehensive deal to tackle climate change.

Tony Blair will lead this work and guide it politically, making sure that the technical work is given the right political direction.

Specifically, the deadlock in the title refers to the governmental deadlock in achieving a comprehensive long-term international agreement on how to deal with global climate change, both how we should prevent further build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and how measures to reduce vulnerability and enhance adaptation to inevitable climate change should be implemented and funded.

Speaking to www.tonyblairoffice.org to launch the project, he said: "There is a consensus now right across the world that we need a new global deal and at the heart of it there has got to be a substantial cut in emissions.

"The difficult thing is: what type of deal? That's the work that I'm working on with a group of experts that have been convened by The Climate Group, which is a business body here in the UK but also across the water in the Atlantic, and what we are looking at specifically is: what is the global deal that makes the difference?

"So the work that we are doing will look specifically at: what is the nature and what are the principles that underpin that new global deal.

"Secondly, what is the best way of developing and then transferring the science and technology necessary to cut greenhouse gas emissions substantially by the amount they really need to be cut?

"Thirdly, how do we make sure we finance, create the finance flows, that are going to be necessary in order to make this work?

"Now we believe that there is a huge economic opportunity: for countries, for business, for people in taking action on climate change.

"But it won't be maximised unless there is that true global deal, one with everybody in it, one that has in its heart a substantial cut in emissions and that most crucially has the means of doing it.

"That's what we will be working on now and in the months to come."

Tony Blair was a leading advocate on the need to take the challenge of climate change seriously during his time as British Prime Minister. His Presidency of the G8 and EU Council of Ministers in 2005 focussed in large part on his goal of moving the international debate forward. He established the Gleneagles dialogue and commissioned the Stern Review. He promoted domestic legislation to set effective emissions cuts and ensure that the UK met its Kyoto targets and continued to have economic growth.

Read Tony Blair's speech to launch Breaking Climate Deadlock

Steve Howard, of the Climate Group, welcomes Mr Blair's new role.