Stars to put climate change on a global stage

SNOW PATROL and Damien Rice will be among the performers at star-studded concerts to be held around the world on July 7.

The concerts are to be to held in London and six other cities to highlight the threat of climate change, former US vice-president Al Gore announced. The 24-hour Live Earth event, which organisers hope will be viewed by two billion people, will feature acts including the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Snoop Dogg, Bon Jovi, Duran Duran and Keane.

The other cities involved will be Shanghai, Johannesburg, Sydney and locations to be announced in Japan, Brazil and the US. There will even be a concert in Antarctica.

“We have to get the message of urgency and hope out,” Mr Gore told a Los Angeles press conference, flanked by actress Cameron Diaz, rapper Pharrell Williams and producer Kevin Wall.

Other acts among more than 100 performers scheduled to appear include the Foo Fighters, Lenny Kravitz, Sheryl Crow and the Black Eyed Peas.

Williams said it would be “the biggest party on earth”.

The proceeds will create a foundation to combat climate change led by The Alliance for Climate Protection, currently chaired by Mr Gore.

“In order to solve the climate crisis, we have to reach billions of people,” he said. “The climate crisis will only be stopped by an unprecedented and sustained global movement.”

Mr Gore’s global warming film, An Inconvenient Truth, is up for two Oscars.

Meanwhile top politicians from around the world have reached a new agreement on tackling climate change at a summit in the US.

Delegates signed a resolution urging the Group of Eight rich nations to commit when they meet in June to setting new targets by 2009 for limiting greenhouse gas emissions.

They want such an agreement ready to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which is set to expire in 2012.