A young environmental campaigner from Clapham attended a national think-tank session for children at the Met Office in Exeter last week.

Daniel Halstead beat hundreds of children to the chance to work with some of the UK’s leading climate change experts and Julia Hailes, MBE and author of The New Green Consumer Guide.

Daniel, who lives in Clapham Common West Side and attends Eaton House Manor School, helped develop policy ideas for protecting our planet in the run up to Copenhagen Summit.

The think-tank identified three policies it believed Government needed to address to tackle climate change.

Firstly they asked for effective legislation to come from the Copenhagen summit, and not just empty targets.

Secondly they demanded all major events, from concerts to sporting events to the summit itself, be made low carbon.

And thirdly they asked that all manufacturers phase out the standby button to cut energy use in homes.

Following the event Daniel, said: “We all know the climate is set to change, but today made us think about what must happen now.”

Julia Hailes MBE said: “Joining forces with the Met Office allowed the children to uncover what our climate will look like in 50-100 years time and what we need to do to preserve it.

“The think-tank came up with a number of innovative ideas and a strong call to action for Government to consider.

“With Copenhagen just around the corner, the children are right to look beyond targets and demand action.”

The scheme is part of the nationwide schools initiative Generation Green, which is organised by British Gas and aims to help teach greener behaviour.

A spokesman for the scheme said half of the UK’s children believe they could make a real difference to the environment if given the chance to have their say.

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