It is easy to get overwhelmed by pessimism when discussing climate change, but the report is not meant to be depressing, but is a call to action. The report highlights the need to tackle climate change, and that is exactly what a group of residents in Balcombe have done.

When Cuadrilla started test drilling for shale oil in Balcombe, they decided that they would generate their own clean electricity through rooftop solar panels.

They set up REPOWER Balcombe and their aim is to generate the equivalent of 100% of the village’s electricity usage from clean, renewable energy sources.

Their spokesman Joe Nixon said: "We all need energy, but buying dirty fossil power from giant utilities is no longer the only option. Advances in renewable technology mean that communities like ours can now generate the energy we need ourselves, locally, in a way that benefits us directly instead of big power companies - and helps the environment instead of harming it. This is win-win for Balcombe and for the planet."

Let’s make sure that the latest IPCC report is a catalyst for action for all of us in the same way that Cuadrilla’s fracking proposals were for the residents of Balcombe.

We also need to make sure that government plays its part too. It’s time the government listened to the residents of Balcombe rather than their friends in the oil industry like Cuadrilla’s boss Lord Browne. The former chair of BP now has a senior role in the Cabinet Office and he has promised to invest “whatever it takes” to get more fossil fuels out of the ground.

An increasing number of experts agree that we will need to leave around 80% of known fossil fuel reserves in the ground if we’re to avoid two degrees of global warming.

Yet just a few weeks ago, the Chancellor gave yet more tax breaks to oil and gas companies, boasting that the Government intends to get “every last drop” of oil from the North Sea,

Now, more than ever, the government must show some leadership, and not down the dead end of over reliance on a finite supply of ever costlier fossil fuels. As a first step, David Cameron must announce an immediate end to fracking.