At the United Nations Climate Change talks currently under way in Poland, Ed Milliband and environment ministers from around the world are arriving this week for negotiations to cut global emissions.
This moment must mark a turning point in efforts to tackle climate change and protect people from the poverty and suffering it will cause.
Having just signed a world-leading Climate Change Act into law, the UK has a real chance to show global leadership on climate.
But the government must ensure that its domestic record matches its international rhetoric.
For example, renewables such as wind, tide and solar power already contribute to more than 30 per cent of primary energy in a number of EU countries – but only 1.7 per cent in the UK. Governments must not forget they are negotiating over the lives and livelihoods of billions of people, as failure to keep warming below two degrees will have catastrophic effects.
Hina Alvi, Oxfam activist Burley, Hampshire
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