Ecological campaign group Greenpeace has warned that the polar ice caps are melting at an unprecedented rate.

However, the organisation believes that despite the recent meeting of G8 leaders, the global community is still not doing enough to tackle the problem.

Greenpeace said that while the G8 has agreed targets on carbon reductions, it has not outlined how it actually plans to achieve this.

"Strong emission cuts are needed if we want to prevent runaway global warming," it insisted.

The organisation accused world leaders of staying inactive and not recognising the urgency of the situation.

Calls for action are always welcome, and I concur wholeheartedly with the view that more needs to be done.

I see Christian Aid is similarly unimpressed with the level of commitment to the issue displayed by world leaders.

Alison Doig, senior climate change adviser at the charity, this week told Politics.co.uk that "extremely slow" progress has been made over the last six months.

She went on to dismiss the G8's pledge to cut carbon emissions by 80 per cent by 2050 as a "baby step".