Chris Huhne is to stay at the international climate change talks in Cancún, even though his absence will cost the government a vote in the crucial Commons division on tuition fees tomorrow, it has been announced.

Sources close to Nick Clegg said the deputy prime minister and Liberal Democrat leader had decided the energy secretary's role in the latest round of talks was too important for him to be pulled out of the summit.

The decision came after Labour refused to offer a "pair" for Huhne who would also miss the university funding vote, so they cancelled one another out.

Climate change campaigners begged both Clegg and Labour leader Ed Miliband to make arrangements for the energy secretary to remain, because of the vital role he had been given by the Mexican hosts in leading discussions on the fate of the earlier Kyoto Protocol.

Clegg decided that the long-term interests of the planet should take priority over the government's potential difficulties in tomorrow's vote, said the source.

Huhne said: "Nick Clegg and I have decided the importance of the talks in Cancún mean that I have to stay here to finish the vital work we have started.

"It is hugely regrettable that Ed Miliband's Labour party has decided to put short-term political point scoring ahead of the long-term interests of the planet. They are putting the next two days ahead of the next two generations.

"These vital talks have denied me the chance to support the coalition government's progressive proposals to give financial security to our world class universities sector and make the repayment system for students fairer."

The Lib Dems' request for Labour to provide a "pair" for Huhne kicked off a furious round of arguments at Westminster.

Labour insisted that all of its MPs want to attend tomorrow's division to vote against the government's plans to treble the maximum annual tuition fee to £9,000. They said that Huhne could be paired with a rebel Liberal Democrat backbencher.

Cheltenham MP Martin Horwood, who is also in Cancún, has said he would have voted against the fees package if he were able to attend the Commons.

Representatives of Greenpeace, Tearfund, WWF UK and UK Youth Climate Coalition, wrote to Miliband, urging him to act so the energy secretary could stay.

"Significant steps forward must be made this week to demonstrate commitment from all parties to working towards a global deal," they wrote. "The presence of UK ministers is vitally important to the business of achieving a good result. For the UK to recall him now would send the wrong signals to other negotiating nations, and raise questions over the UK's priorities when it comes to solving global problems."

It emerged this evening that another Lib Dem minister, Paul Burstow, had been paired with backbencher Adrian Sanders in order to go ahead with a scheduled visit to health facilities in his Torbay constituency tomorrow.

Sanders said he had got the agreement of Liberal Democrat whips on Monday to pair with Burstow after telling them he would otherwise vote against the government. However, he acknowledged that he was not sure whether the arrangement would hold, given the intense interest in tomorrow's vote.

The Torbay MP told the Press Association: "I had intended to abstain, but I told the chief whip that if the visit was pulled I would vote against. It was agreed we could be paired."

The news that Huhne was staying at the climate talks was welcomed by environmental campaigners. Executive director of Greenpeace, John Sauven, said: "It is great news that Chris Huhne is staying on in Mexico. He has a vital personal role to play in taking the talks forward. With the outcome of the Cancún summit now hanging in the balance, attention must now focus on whether he can help to broker a climate deal."