U.S. must lead on economy, climate change: Clinton

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States must work with emerging economies in the current economic crisis and also must lead the effort to fight global climate change, Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday.

"We know that emerging markets like China, India, Brazil, South Africa and Indonesia are feeling the effects of the current crisis. We all stand to benefit in both the short and long term if they are part of the solution," Clinton said in prepared remarks for her confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

"The world is in need of an urgent, coordinated response to climate change and as President-elect Obama has said, America must be a leader in developing and implementing it," Clinton said.

"At the extreme it threatens our very existence, but well before that point, it could very well incite new wars of an old kind -- over basic resources like food, water and arable land," she said.