The climate crisis is an existential threat to our way of life in Britain. Extreme weather is already changing the lives of people and communities across the country, from thousands of acres of farmland being submerged due to storms such as Bert and Darragh to record numbers of heat-related deaths in recent summers.

The only way to respond to this challenge is with decisive action at home and abroad. Domestically, this government’s clean-energy superpower mission is about investing in homegrown clean energy so we can free the UK from dependence on fossil fuel markets while seizing the immense opportunities for jobs and growth.

But climate action at home without pushing larger countries to do their fair share would not protect current and future generations. Emissions know no borders, and we will only protect our farmers, our pensioners and our children if we get other countries of the world to play their part.

That is why this week I’m travelling to Beijing: to urge continued action from China, the world’s biggest emitter – responsible for about 30% of global emissions – to tackle the climate emergency. I will be meeting Chinese ministers for frank conversations about how both countries can fulfil the aims of the Paris climate agreement, to which both countries are signed up.

China is responsible for more emissions than the US, EU, India and UK, yet I am the first energy secretary since 2017 to visit China. Frankly, I consider it to be negligence towards today’s and future generations not to engage China on this topic. As the chancellor said before her recent trip, choosing not to engage with China is no choice at all.

People often ask me why the UK should act on the climate crisis when we account for just 1% of current global emissions. But the fact that we contribute just 1% of emissions isn’t an excuse to shrink from the global stage. It is an instruction for Britain to use our influence to build a global coalition to drive the action the world needs. It is only our domestic ambition, renewed by this government after years of failure by the last government, that gives us the credibility to compel others to act. This is about protecting the British people now and for generations to come.

Of course, on my visit I will be in the business of challenge as well as cooperation, raising issues including forced labour in supply chains, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and human rights in Hong Kong. But disagreement cannot be an excuse for disengagement.

In recent years we have stepped back as many of our allies, including France, Germany and Australia, have continued to engage with China despite sharing many of the same disagreements we have.

The reality is that stepping back has done nothing to advance our priorities, which is why our government is taking a new approach to China.

Over the next few days, I will be meeting my Chinese counterparts to discuss how all countries can rise to the climate challenge. We will launch a formal climate dialogue, inviting Chinese ministers to London later this year and for the first time institutionalising climate-change talks between both countries moving forward.

We will also sign a refreshed UK-China Clean Energy Partnership, updating our approach to engaging on these issues for the first time in a decade. This is about learning lessons from each other about how we decarbonise, from carbon capture to hydrogen. At all times there will be a strict national security test to any collaboration.

My visit speaks to a wider truth: on climate, as on so much else, we can only fight for our national interest by being engaged on the international stage. As the prime minister showed when he led the world at Cop29 last winter, we must work together with other countries if we want to keep our people safe. Britain’s farmers, pensioners and future generations deserve nothing less. That is the message I will deliver in Beijing.

• Ed Miliband is secretary of state for energy and climate change