TWO of Winchester's leading climate change activists are in Paris to push for a global deal to cut carbon emissions.

Robert Hutchison, founder of Winchester Action on Climate Change, and its current co-director Chris Holloway are among 20,000 delegates at the UN Climate Change Conference.

Ministers reported an atmosphere of "cautious optimism" this week over a draft plan which could commit the world's nations to curbing emissions or temperature rises.

The talks end on Friday.

Mr Hutchison, a former city councillor, has lobbied for a cap on extraction, legally binding governments to keep most remaining fossil fuels in the ground.

He said: "Almost everyone here agrees that the world is not on course for avoiding dangerous runaway human-caused climate change.

"But much has changed since COP 15 ended in tears in Copenhagen six years ago. There is now worldwide recognition that facing up to climate change and taking the world’s poorest billion people out of abject poverty are two sides of the same coin, and this recognition has been accompanied by real momentum in the creation of low and zero carbon economies globally.

"Climate change is everyone’s issue and developing and maintaining the momentum to build low carbon economies a matter for every level of government – including Hampshire’s local authorities."

Ms Holloway, who helped hand in petitions to world leaders last week, has written to members describing the "beauty and power of a growing movement".

More than 100 countries have backed a 1.5C limit to temperature rises, one of the options in draft version of the text, along with "well below 2C" – generally seen as the threshold beyond which the worst impacts of climate change will be felt.

It comes after 200 WinACC supporters marched through Winchester last week, joining hundreds of thousands across the world in applying pressure on world leaders.

Mr Hutchison added: "Will this impressive well-organised conference deliver a robust package of measures to support and encourage all countries – the poor most of all – to stop burning and investing in fossil fuels? Will richer economies step up the transfer of technologies and finances to poorer countries while giving a stronger lead in making much sharper cuts in their own emissions? Is compensation for loss and damage from irreversible climate impacts on the cards?

"Paris will be judged on how precise the answers are to these questions; and on whether it puts in place a regular mechanism for ratcheting up the ambitions and commitments of all countries."