A Brighton man is due to take part in the United Nations (UN) climate talks in Glasgow which start in a few days’ time.
Neil Thorns, 53, is a delegate as the director of advocacy at the Catholic aid agency CAFOD.
He also chairs the Climate Coalition which, with more than 100 organisations and 22 million members, is Britain’s largest group dedicated to action on climate change.
Mr Thorns is calling on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to ensure those worst affected are put at the heart of the talks aimed at tackling climate change.
The leaders of almost 200 nations are due to take part in COP26 – the 26th annual Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The summit is also the third meeting of the parties to the Paris Agreement – an international treaty adopted six years ago.
Mr Thorns said: “Leaders have to work for the common good and they have to work for it ambitiously – I think that COP26 is an opportunity for them to make the right decisions for our world.
“The more leaders look beyond the usual electoral terms and think much more long term the better.
“It’s important that our future generations and vulnerable communities are at the heart of their decision making.”
Communities taking responsibility and playing their part is crucial to fighting the climate crisis, Mr Thorns said, citing how Brighton and Hove was providing more eco-friendly solutions locally.
He said: “Brighton has a lot of places where the public can go and fill up their bottles, as well as posters around town to encourage recycling.
“It is important that communities across the UK think about the small and significant lifestyle changes that they can make to tackle the climate crisis.
“Another step in the right direction would be to meet with MPs and councillors to discuss tangible ways that we can tackle the climate crisis – from campaigning for more cycle lanes and eco-friendly transport to organising litter-picking days. These activities will encourage them to do more.”
CAFOD director Christine Allen said: “The climate crisis is already a matter of life and death for people in the communities that CAFOD works with – despite the fact they have contributed the least to the problem.
“Droughts, floods, failed harvests and damage to our common home is destroying people’s lives and livelihoods and pushing more people into poverty.
“As the UK government is host of the climate conference … we must ensure these climate talks keep us on track to limit temperature rises to 1.5C, guarantee poor countries get the money they need to respond to the climate crisis and consign fossil fuels to history for the last time.”
CAFOD is the official aid agency of the Catholic Church in England and Wales – and part of Caritas International.
It said: “We reach out to people living in poverty with practical help, whatever their religion or culture.”
Its all been done wrong, we are importing Gas and Coking coal ( for steel industry), while we have MASSIVE reserves in the UK. So in effect we are increasing our carbon footprint by importing and making the poorest pay higher energy bills. So until we can do without fossil fuels we should use our own.