At a UN climate change conference in Poznan, Poland, aimed at ways to stop global warming a delegation from the Met Office said it is just as important for the world to stop pollution, which is set to kill 800 more people every year by 2020 in the UK alone.

New scientific evidence shows pollution is a bigger problem in terms of human health than previously thought and can exacerbate the effects of climate change with deadly consequences. This is because increased pollution not only heats the planet through the greenhouse effect but stops plants from absorbing carbon, which in turn increases pollution again.

Polluting gases are already killing 1,500 people in the UK every year and that is expected to increase to around 2,391 deaths a year by 2020.