Hermione Taylor is a green sponsorship entrepreneur. She recently cycled to Morocco and asked people to sponsor her by committing to reducing their carbon footprint rather than donate money. This was her first trip and through 216 pledges and people taking 346 actions she saved just over 16 tonnes of carbon, which amounts to "600,000 balloons full", or the equivalent of 83 flights from London to Morocco. You can see the type of actions listed on the website – www.justsaving.org

1.    What inspired you to ride to Morocco?
I had wanted to visit Morocco for years but I didn’t like the idea of flying for just a short break. Some flights are justified, and I am the first to admit that the world is not going to kick its airborne habits, but knowing the impacts of flying I just couldn’t bring myself to do it for such a self indulgent holiday. 

Self-styled environmental economist, Prashant Vaze is on a mission to reduce his carbon footprint. He is Chief Economist at Consumer Focus and previously worked at the UK’s Office of climate Change, the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit and the Department of the Environment. He recently published  “The Economical Environmentalist” which charts his attempt to live a low-carbon life in London and what it cost...

Q1. Your book charts your attempts over a year to reduce your emissions. What did you manage to achieve?

I called the effort a hexathlon because I cut emissions from 6 areas of my life; from my diet, day to day transport, heating, electricity use, waste and lastly holidays. Overall I will have cut my emissions by 35% once everything that's planned is completed...

Stephen Hale is Director of the Green Alliance, an environmental think tank working to ensure UK political leaders deliver ambitious solutions to global environmental issues.

He is author of The new politics of climate change (2008) and is currently the third sector chair of the ministerial task force on climate change, the environment and sustainable development...

How do you think the public’s trust in climate science can be restored?
The past few months have been immensely frustrating to all those who understand the potential impacts of climate change, and the extraordinarily high economic, social and environmental stakes that we will play for over the next five to ten years. Public trust in the science has clearly been shaken. Yet none of the handful of issues that have been seized on by the sceptics and media have in any way undermined the central conclusions of the science of climate change. The task now is two-fold. First, we need to rebuild trust in the scientific consensus and to bring public attention back to the scale of the risks and the positive case for action. The imminent review of the IPPC seems a helpful step. Second, we need to do far more to convey the positive economic and social case for the policies that we are advocating, and thus secure support on grounds of economic opportunity, energy security and social justice and other concerns.  

Paul became the first CEO of the UK-GBC in May 2007. He was previously a member of the Sustainable Buildings Task Group, Code for Sustainable Homes Steering Group and the Egan Review of Skills for Sustainable Communities.

 What is the green building council and what is its background?

Edwin Poots is Environment Minister at the Northern Ireland Assembly. He is member of the Democratic Unionist Party and was previously Minister for Culture, Arts & Leisure.

John Swinney MSP is Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth and was leader of the Scottish National Party between 2000 and 2004.  He studied politics at Edinburgh University and is a keen hill-walker and cyclist.

1.    What can be done in Scotland to tackle climate change?
Climate change is the greatest environmental threat that we face and it’s the poor and the vulnerable, as well as developing countries, that will be worst affected. So, Scotland has a clear duty to support international action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Philip Sellwood has been CEO of the Energy Saving Trust since 2003. Prior to this he worked in retail, food and private equity markets. He is a member of the Government’s low-carbon vehicle partnership board and is on the Zero carbon housing task force….

Q1/ How much potential is there from energy efficiency to contribute to efforts to reduce emissions?
Domestic carbon emissions – home and transport – is half of the problem and therefore half of the solution.  And using less energy is by far the most cost effective way of reducing carbon emissions.  The more energy we can save, the less investment needed in coal or nuclear powered stations.  Furthermore, measures like insulation have life-time savings – once addressed they save carbon year on year.  There are still an estimated 6.3 million homes that need cavity wall insulation – nearly a quarter of all UK homes and half of UK homes (13 million) still need to have their lofts insulated.  Insulating all our homes properly would save nearly 7 million tonnes (Mt) of carbon dioxide (CO2) a year.  That’s the equivalent of having more than two million fewer cars on the UK’s roads.

But we need to help create the environment whereby it is easy for consumers to make their homes more energy efficient at times when it is convenient to them. For instance, when someone is moving home or having their boiler replaced, that is an ideal opportunity for them to install additional insulation.  Our research shows that 75 per cent of people would rather make energy-efficient improvements in their homes whilst the builders are already there.