CLIMATE change is the biggest threat facing our world and unless we arrest it now, the damages inflicted will be catastrophic.

During the COP summit this week, the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned: “We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator.”

I warmly welcomed Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s decision to attend the summit in Egypt; after all, Britain has made huge inroads in building upon its green credentials.

At the summit, leaders warned that global temperatures have increased by 1.1C since pre-industrial times and scientists believe that going beyond 1.5C would see dire consequences for people right across the world; this will mean many areas of our planet would become inhospitable, with nations even ceasing to exist.

That’s why it’s vital that each one of us plays our part to help stem climate change.

Thankfully, under the ambitious Paris Agreement, countries agreed to aim to limit the temperature rise to 1.5C.

But more work is needed.

Monmouthshire County Council has certainly played its role in recent years, of which I am really pleased.

As a former leader, our council issued a motion declaring a climate emergency.

Part of the motion included achieving ambitious aims such as reducing carbon emissions to net zero before the Welsh Government’s target of 2030; publicising a declaration of a climate emergency to residents and businesses; as well as working with partners across the county to help develop methods in limiting global warming to less than 1.5C.

We must not take anything for granted and, for the sake of our children, do more to tackle climate change.