More than 2,000 academics call on world heads to do more to limit global warming

Linguist Noam Chomsky and historian Naomi Oreskes among signatories of open letter urging leaders to limit warming to 1.5C, rather than current 2C target, at Paris climate talks

More than 2,000 academics from over 80 countries - including linguist Noam Chomsky, climate scientist Michael E Mann, philosopher Peter Singer, and historian Naomi Oreskes - have called on world leaders to do more to limit global warming to a 1.5C rise.

In an open letter, they write that leaders meeting in Paris at a crunch UN climate summit next week should "be mustering planet-wide mobilisation, at all societal levels" and call for citizens around the world to hold their leaders to account on the issue.