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Environmental campaigners marched on Parliament on Saturday to demand that greenhouse gas emissions are slashed to help prevent “climate catastrophe.”
With UN delegates meeting in Cancun, Mexico, to hammer out a deal to cut global warming, hundreds of people in Hyde Park formed themselves into a “2030″ with a giant zero – the date by which campaigners want a zero-carbon Britain.
They then cycled and marched through central London to urge the coalition government to take strong action to decarbonise the economy and create a million green jobs in the process.
Campaign Against Climate Change (CACC) spokeswoman Larissa Stuart said: “There was a great atmosphere and the politicians made really rousing speeches.
“We had lots of support from people and gave out lots of leaflets and really raised awareness.”
Phil Thornhill of CACC added: “Gridlock in the international negotiations does not stop the slide towards climate catastrophe gathering deadly pace – as we have begun to witness this year in flood-stricken Pakistan, drought-hit Russia and other places.
“It makes it all the more crucial that we transform the politics behind that impasse and we can start at home.”
Friends of the Earth executive director Andy Atkins, who also spoke at the rally, said the “alarm bells are ringing loudly” and urgent action was needed to stop climate change.
As well as calling for a commitment by the government to work towards a zero-carbon Britain by 2030 and to create a million green jobs now, CACC called for a 10 per cent cut in carbon emissions by the end of this year.
Before the start of the second week of talks at Cancun, Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne said negotiators had the chance to pave the way for an ambitious agreement on tackling global warming.
“The UK’s position is clear. We believe a legally binding global deal is not just good for the planet, it’s also good for its inhabitants,” he said.
“We will be stronger and more resilient with a deal than without. And we believe that the negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change are the best way of achieving that deal.”
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