Everyone needs to be making small changes and efforts to help tackle the climate change emergency says the Mayor of Kenilworth.

Cllr Peter Jones has spoken following the publication of a UN scientific report which the UN chief described as a "code red for humanity".

It found that global surface temperatures have risen faster in the last 50 years than at any point in the last two millennia.

The report, published by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), is the first major investigation on the science of global warming since 2013.

A Green party member, Cllr Jones has said that the responsibility for reducing the impact of global warming lies not just with big nations and corporations, but also with individuals.

With the IPCC report published amidst flooding in Germany and wildfires in Greece and Turkey, Cllr Jones said that this surely must be a wakeup call for the world as a whole.

"I would have thought by now," he said, "the extremes of temperature are so great, and the horrible effects in western Germany and the wildfires in Greece and Turkey are so extreme, I cannot see how anyone can deny that it is man made.

"We should thank our lucky stars that we are not in the position of Greece and Turkey or Germany, we need to be thankful that these things haven't happened to us yet."

Cllr Jones also identified four different aspects of life that we can address as individuals to help address our carbon footprint locally.

Firstly, through our diet and lifestyle by eating less meat and dairy products, growing our own vegetables wherever possible - using peat-free compost, and watering gardens less. This as well as ongoing efforts to protect green spaces and biodiversity.

A much-spoken about topic locally, green transport was also mentioned. Not just through active transport or electric and hybrid vehicles, but also by considering whether journeys are actually necessary, especially when travelling by car.

Cllr Jones also highlighted changes we can make to our homes - turning thermostats down where there is no need for high temperatures, installing solar panels, heat pumps, and consuming less energy in gas and electricity.

Finally, he discussed the amount of waste we produce, suggesting the Green party mantra of "reuse, repair and reduce".

"We are going to have to change our mind set," he said, "because we cannot keep using up these resources.

"Everybody has to do their bit.

"There is such a large population in the world now, and our grandchildren are not going to face a friendly world in the years ahead if we cannot cut back on the use of resources."

Whilst Cllr Jones' suggestions are all small, and manageable for the individual, he also said that big organisations need to take responsibility for their actions.

"It's a combination of both, we need big corporations to change their behaviour and we need governments to enforce it. Then we need individuals to change their behaviour wherever possible."

In fact, the IPCC report comes three months before the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow.

Calling on governmental bodies to take account for their actions applied on the local scale as well.

Speaking on the Abbey Fields Lido development, which is not going to be built to net carbon zero standards according to current plans, Cllr Jones said: "I regret that; we should have been moving to net carbon zero years ago.

"People should think; 'how did we get into this mess?' By going for growth and huge numbers of sales. We should stop voting for the parties that got us into this mess."