Open letter calls on France to act on climate change

The letter, which was published in full by Le Monde newspaper, demands that the government act against “the cataclysm” that awaits the planet, and calls on “the powers that be” to “wake up and be serious” and stop “twiddling their thumbs while looking at the impending catastrophe”.

It was also signed by famous names from France and abroad, including the actresses Marion Cotillard, Isabelle Huppert, Jane Birkin, and Charlotte Rampling; actors Ralph Fiennes, Romain Duris and Bradley Cooper; playwright Tom Stoppard; director Alfonso Cuarón; and singer Charles Aznavour.

It points to recent events as examples of “worrying phenomena”, such as global warming, the collapse in biodiversity, rapid deforestation, droughts, epidemics, fires, flooding, earth pollution and air degradation.

The text reads: “In a few decades, hardly anything will remain. Humans and most living species are in a critical situation...it is a question of survival.”

The letter comes in the wake of the departure of former French ecology minister Nicolas Hulot, which Ms Binoche has called “an enormous event”, in an interview with news outlet France Info.

People believed that “things would happen” with Mr Hulot, she said, as he had “dedicated his whole life to the environment”.

Ms Binoche called President Emmanuel Macron “someone brilliant and sincere” when it comes to the environment, but added that without action and decisions, it would “amount to nothing”.

She said: “They say that in 20 years, if we do not make real decisions, there will be irreversible [climate] changes. Now, we can do something. We hold all the cards, but each person must question themselves, because it is not only politicians who can do something, we can too. We must change our attitudes in our everyday lives.

“We must be active, not mere spectators, so that things change. We must start at home, in France.”

The full list of signatories can be seen on the Le Monde website.