We will be speaking to the UK’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, at 8.30am.

But speaking earlier to the BBC’s Today programme, Sir Patrick said plans to limit global warming to 1.5C were an “urgent call for action.”

He added: “If you work back from 2050 and ask what you need to do you can’t rely on something coming along late in the day and saving us.

“It’s about utilising the technologies we have now, getting them in place as soon as we can at scale… and making sure we use both technology and natural actions and behavioural changes.

“But if we don’t do it now then we can’t make that goal, so it’s an urgent call for action with detailed plans.”

Sir Patrick said action on getting to net-zero should not be viewed as a “slow burn” and that behavioural changes would also be required.

“Many people don’t know what it is that we need to do,” he said.

“One of the messages that needs to come out is that there are little things we can do and those little things can aggregate across millions to make quite a big impact.”

Speaking about reductions in meat consumption and flight usage, he added: “(It’s not about) abolishing those things but just reducing a little bit can make a difference.”

Asked if COP26 could succeed without Russia and China, Sir Patrick said: “That’s into the political space.”

However, he did admit that the climate crisis is “going to require collaboration across nations”.

“It’s going to need listening to indigenous voices as well for some solutions that may be very relevant locally or indeed more broadly,” he said.