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The UK transport secretary, Geoff Hoon, has called for shipping and aviation to be included in any global agreement at the next United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change(UNFCCC) in Copenhagen in December.

Speaking at the International Transport Forum in Leipzig, Germany, Hoon said that the omission of the two dominant international modes of transportation from the last global climate change accord in Kyoto in 1997 led to more than a decade of inaction.

"We cannot afford to wait any longer. It is vital that we put that right at Copenhagen. If we do not lead this debate, then others will [and transport] will leave itself wide open to accusations that it is part of the problem, rather than part of the solution."

Hoon's speech focused on the use of techonological solutions to cut emissions in shipping and aviation. He pointed to improved engine and ship design as a means of reducing shipping's environmental impact.

The tone of Mr Hoon's speech, which looked at the benefits of transport and the potential for improved technology to reduce emissions, is likely to have not satisfied environmentalists who are demanding more radical action be taken to cut emissions.

Earlier this week A.P. Moller-Maersk Chief Executive Nils Smedegaard said that he is in favour of a levy on bunker fuel as the most effective way of delivering further cuts in shipping emissions.

Speaking on the sidelines of a business climate conference, Anderson told Reuters "The best way to cap the global shipping industry's greenhouse gas emissions would be a tax on fuel consumption as that would be easiest to control and administrate."

Anderson said that competition would become distorted if the Copenhagen talks do not result in a global deal, causing some countries and regions to regulate separately.

"The most important thing is that it's the same for everyone. Otherwise you'll get distortions in global shipping competition," said Anderson.