Friends of the Earth (Malta) called on world leaders to take urgent action to cut emissions of greenhouse gases after the planet's leading scientific experts, endorsed by the world's governments, delivered the starkest warning yet on the threat of global climate change.

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), published its long anticipated Fourth Assessment Report in Paris providing the most credible and convincing evidence so far of the human link to climate change and its devastating impacts.

The arrogance of the sceptics, including some local ones that featured in the local media is almost beyond belief. The scientists involved, 1250 participating and 2500 as judges are all experts in their fields. Yet, some people still choose to act like the proverbial ostriches and conjure all types of ill-remembered ideas from tabloid journalism as if they are established fact.

The alarm bells are ringing. The world must wake up to the threat posed by climate change. There is still time to act, but urgent action is required. World governments have signed up to and accept these findings, making the reason for action all the more compelling.

In Malta, the greenhouse gases emissions have constantly been rising from year to year. Although our small nation’s contribution might be considered insignificant when compared to other nations, it does not mean that we should not be concerned with climate change. In fact, considering that we are a small island we should be at the forefront of combating climate change.

One has to consider the unjust situation where the biggest contributors to climate change are rich industrialized countries, whilst the countries who are already feeling the brunt are either developing countries or small island states similar to Malta. On one hand there are low lying island nations such as the Maldives who contribute very little to climate change but risk being submerged beneath the ocean, and on the other hand countries who are significantly contributing to climate change like the British Isles, where it is predicted that the climate will change to that synonymous with the Mediterranean.

Malta could potentially serve as an example of good practice when it comes to finding solutions and using technologies which could rid us from our oil dependency. This will not only be of benefit to our environment but also to our economy in the long term.