SIR David Attenborough has been named COP26 People’s Advocate ahead of the crucial UN climate change summit in Glasgow in November.

The broadcaster and natural historian will work with the UK Government to inspire action in the run-up to the summit. He will address world leaders and the public ahead of and during the conference.

Attenborough’s appointment marks the start of the six-month countdown to the event. Organisers say he will put forward the compelling case to global leaders, key decision-makers and the public on why climate action matters.

He will highlight the evidence, the progress under way, and the actions decision-makers will need to take before and at COP26. Attenborough will address world leaders at major international events over the next six months, including the G7 Summit in Cornwall in June, to firmly put climate and the protection of nature at the top of their agenda.

He has also been invited to address world leaders and the public at the Glasgow summit, billed as the most important climate meeting since the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015. Attenborough said: “I am greatly honoured to be given the role of People’s Advocate. There could not be a more important moment that we should have international agreement.

“The coronavirus epidemic has shown us how crucial it is to find agreement among nations if we are to solve such worldwide problems.

“But the problems that await us within the next five to 10 years are even greater. It is crucial that the meetings in Glasgow have success, and that at last nations will come together to solve the crippling problems that the world now faces.”

COP26 president-designate Alok Sharma said: “Climate change is the greatest threat facing humanity and the stakes could not be higher for our planet. The next decade will be make, or break, for cutting global emissions sufficiently to avoid the worst effects of climate change.”