The Premier has urged large industrialised nations to take a military-style approach to tackling climate change.

Ewart Brown stressed the vulnerability of small island nations to the effects of global warming when he appeared on Britain's Sky News this week.

He told Sky presenter Jeff Randall that Bermuda faced rising sea levels and ocean acidification unless firm action was taken to cut carbon dioxide emissions.

The Premier appeared on the national news network alongside James Smith, chairman of Shell UK, who defended the oil company against a critical report by Friends of the Earth that it was not doing enough to curb climate change.

Asked whether he was confident large companies such as Shell could join the fight against global warming, Dr. Brown said: "They can play a role and I'm confident they will.

"Small countries like mine are really at the mercy of the large companies and countries, and our set of challenges is different from the large countries.

"We run the risk of rising sea levels and areas which have low-lying facilities like airports and so on, are at risk.

"We also have an issue with acidification of the ocean, which affects our coral reefs and our ecosystems."

Mr. Randall asked Dr. Brown what the "worst-case scenario" would be to a small island if climate change continues unimpeded.

The Premier said: "I hate to think of what could happen but if we lose our coral reefs then that disrupts our entire system and there's no telling what that would do to our fish stocks and our ability to attract people to the country, people who enjoy our beaches.

"And so we are very concerned about it. I just wish the large countries would approach this as if it were a military manoeuvre."

The Premier is to travel to Copenhagen on Friday to attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference.

Leaders of countries around the world are meeting in the Danish capital between December 7 to 18 to discuss cuts to greenhouse gas emissions.

Up to 192 countries are represented at COP15, where an estimated 15,000 participants are attempting to forge the first new UN pact in 12 years to combat climate change.

The 1997 Kyoto Protocol established legally-binding obligations for developed countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but the edict finishes in 2012 and does not include powerhouses such as the US and Australia, which abstained from the international agreement.