Operation Noah, the Christian environmental campaign, is calling for an end to 'DIY Global Repairs' and the slashing of UK emissions to an average of 1.2 tonnes per person by 2030.
Operation Noah is also challenging Prime Minister Gordon Brown to "exercise bold leadership" and introduce a legislative framework that will "fairly and equitably" drive down the UK's per capita carbon dioxide emissions from the current average of 9.5 tonnes per person to a more sustainable 1.2 tonnes by 2030.
In a Ipsos Mori poll conducted last week, 70 per cent of respondents agreed that the Government should take the lead in combating climate change, even if it means using the law to change people's behaviour.
Ann Pettifor, campaigns director of Operation Noah said that the poll revealed the willingness of British people to adapt to climate change "but only within a framework of justice, in which sacrifice is equally shared".
"This cannot be done by a culture of 'voluntarism' or 'DIY global repairs', but requires a legislative framework for rationing and regulating carbon emissions," she said.
Responding to recent floods in north-east England, Pakistan and India, Pettifor said:
"The suffering of those living in the north of England, and those in Pakistan and India as floods devastate lives and livelihoods, are but more examples of extreme weather events exacerbated by global warming."
The Bishop of Liverpool, the Rt Rev James Jones, recently said that natural disasters like the June floods were not a judgement of God. He added, however, that man's actions still had to take the lion's share of the blame for global warming.
"God has created a world of cause and effect. If we change the climate through profligate use of carbon it is we who bring upon ourselves and others the consequences of reaping what we sow," he said.
