COP 26: Sir David Attenborough says politicians must 'lead' on climate change

Sir David Attenborough says politicians must "give people confidence" that changes needed to help the climate are "possible for us all".

The famous naturalist and broadcaster says fairness and involving everyone needs to be at the heart of all climate action.

"The world's scientists have been very clear on what's at stake for mankind if we don't act on climate change," Sir David said.

He was speaking to mark a year since the UK's first Citizens Climate Assembly - a group of people brought together to discuss climate issues - which then made recommendations to the government to achieve "net zero" by 2050.

Reaching net zero

Net zero describes reaching an overall balance between the emissions produced and emissions removed from the atmosphere.

That means emissions from homes, transport, farming and industry will have to be avoided or - in the most difficult examples - balanced out with efforts such as planting trees to soak up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

The group also suggested taxing people who fly often, a ban on new petrol, diesel and hybrid cars by 2030-2035 and for people to change to a more plant-based diet, eating less meat.

When meeting up with them again, Sir David made a point of thanking them for their efforts and saying that they "gave him hope"

"There is change coming", he added " I feel it coming, I feel it in the air. I sniff it in the air."

What's COP26?

The Government is expected to set out its strategy for meeting the net-zero target, ahead of November's COP26 event in Glasgow, a global meeting of countries to talk about climate change and how to tackle it.

"Our political leaders now need to lead and give people confidence that all the changes needed to deliver net zero are desirable and possible for all of us," Sir David said.

"Parliament's Climate Assembly has done a truly remarkable job of highlighting the high levels of public support for climate action up and down this country and given government and MPs an invaluable roadmap of how it can be done.

"The Assembly has been abundantly clear that greater public participation and fairness is needed at the heart of all climate action and this is therefore a message I hope this Government has heard loud and clear and certainly one I plan to share with all world leaders at Cop26 in Glasgow."

This COP26 campaign poster stresses the fact that countries need to work together to fight climate change

Darren Jones, chairs Parliament's Business Energy and Industrial Strategy, one of the groups that commissioned the citizens assembly on climate change.

"The Government must build on the climate assembly's work and urgently bring the public into the debate about what tackling climate change really means, explaining not just why it's necessary but how it'll have a positive effect on people's lives.

"The clock is ticking to Cop26 and the Government should not waste this chance to engage the whole country in the conversation around climate change," he said.