Climate change activists projected an environmental message on the Senate House building last night (17/01), calling on the government to take action on the climate crisis.

Text stating “1.5 is dead” was displayed on the building, commenting on global temperature rises. This comes after confirmation that last year was the first to breach the important global warming threshold.

Leaflets calling for a “public information campaign” with a link to a parliamentary petition were also distributed at the event. The leaflets called on the government to “tell us the truth” on the climate crisis, and claimed that “MPs and the media treat the climate crisis as a matter of opinion or sideline it”.

A public information campaign would “communicate clearly” the science behind the climate crisis, along with the implications of temperature rises. This would “prepare and unite” communities in order to face the “unprecedented threat” of climate change, according to the petition.

The leaflets also pointed to ongoing environmental disasters such as “wild fires, floods & droughts” as consequences of increasing global temperatures.

This protest came four days after the same message of “1.5 is dead” was sprayed on Charles Darwin’s Grave in Westminster Abbey by activist group Just Stop Oil, leading to the arrest of two women suspected of causing criminal damage.

The milestone reflects a rise of average global temperatures 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial records. The target to keep temperature rises below 1.5 was part of the 2015 Paris Accords, of which the UK was a signatory.

This also comes as the University is facing significant pressure over its climate policy after it backtracked on a commitment to reject all donations from fossil fuels companies, conceding that they would consider multi-million pound gifts if they could not be obtained elsewhere and were aligned with the University’s “overall academic and institutional aims”.

Following this, the University’s internal watchdog accused them of “lacking urgency” over their climate policy, claiming that they “could have moved further and faster” to hit its carbon targets.

The University of Cambridge and the Department for Environmental, Food and Rural Affairs have been contacted for comment.