Warning that next parliament is last chance to stop climate change

Published on Sunday 21 March 2010 21:56

THE next parliament will be the last chance for politicians to stop runaway climate change, business, environmental and charity leaders warn today.

Whoever wins the next election will have to take urgent decisions to avoid the worst impacts of global warming and make sure the UK benefits from opportunities such as green jobs, they said.

A short film backing the call to act, presented by Sir Trevor McDonald, celebrates past achievements of parliament from the abolition of slavery to the creation of the NHS.

MPs in the next parliament will go down in history as heroes or villains, depending on whether they make the right choices to tackle climate change, Sir Trevor warns.

Jonathon Porritt, one of the panel of experts making the call to act, said that despite an apparent "loss of purpose" in the wake of the Copenhagen climate summit and attacks on science, the imperative to act remained.

A report by the panel demands the incoming parliament builds support for tackling climate change and leads a drive to "green" the UK's buildings.

Politicians must ensure the UK takes the lead on securing international finance to help poor countries adapt to a changing climate.

And in the UK, MPs must set out a route map to build "low-carbon" electricity, transport and buildings, the report urged.

Others backing the call include National Grid chief executive Steve Holliday,Dame Barbara Stocking, chief executive of Oxfam and Stephen Hale, director of environmental think tank Green Alliance.