The Guardian today gave over its front page to an editorial calling for action on climate change which was published in concert with 55 other newspapers in 45 countries around the world.
The wording of the editorial was drafted by Guardian journalists over a month of consultation with editors from more than 20 of the titles involved. Most have, like the Guardian, published the statement on their front pages in a move timed to coincide with the opening of UN summit on climate change which opens in Copenhagen today.
The editorial states: “Social justice demands that the industrialised world digs deep into its pockets and pledges cash to help poorer countries adapt to climate change, and clean technologies to enable them to grow economically without growing their emissions…
“Overcoming climate change will take a triumph of optimism over pessimism, of vision over short-sightedness, of what Abraham Lincoln called ‘the better angels of our nature’.
“It is in that spirit that 56 newspapers from around the world have united behind this editorial.”
Newspapers publishing the Copenhagen editorial include: The Irish Times, Le Monde, la Repubblica and The Miami Herald.
Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger said: “The fact that papers from Moscow to Miami, with such different national and political perspectives, could agree on an editorial should offer some hope that our leaders might be able to do the same. We are bombarded with so much news and comment about climate change that many people are understandably tempted to go back to bed and pull the duvet over their heads – hopefully this improbable alliance will capture people’s attention, and perhaps their imagination too.”
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog