With just a few days to go before the start of Cop 21, the climate conference taking place in Paris from 30 November, more than three hundred artists and leading figures from the international creative industry have signed an open letter addressed to the French Foreign Minister and President of Cop 21, and to Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the Unfccc (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change).

Underpinning the drafting of the text is the creative and artistic sector's conviction that it can play a fundamental role in the fight against climate change: Alison Tickell, coordinator of the project and founder of Julie's Bicycle, a non-profit organisation dedicated to bridging the gap between environmental sustainability and the creative industry, has stated:

Cop21 is not exclusively political in its significance. Climate change is not only about politics, economics and science, but also about culture. The arts can move in different directions from science or politics. Artists and cultural figures have often had an extremely important impact on society, managing to communicate with the public more easily.

Among the signatories of the letter are heads of international arts institutions such as the Royal Opera House and the Royal Albert Hall in London and Bafta (British Academy of Film and Television Arts), figures at the helm of creative companies such as John Reid, chairman of Live Nation, as well as artists and musicians including Damon Albarn, David Bowie, Jack Johnson, Björk, Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull, Jim James of My Morning Jacket, Coldplay in full, David Gilmour, Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream and many others, bringing the total to more than three hundred signatures.

The letter reads:

We are deeply concerned: current global economic and industrial systems are accelerating the rate of desertification, soil impoverishment, ecosystem degradation, and the extinction of animal species (…) Paris offers a historic opportunity. We therefore intend to join together in stepping up our efforts. But it is necessary that trust be placed in us and that our capacity to reinforce the measures planned at a political level be recognised.

On the occasion of Cop21, Pathway to Paris will also take place — a concert to be held on 4 December in the French capital, at which Naomi Klein, American environmentalist Bill McKibben and Vandana Shiva will also appear. Among the musical guests: Patti Smith, Flea and Thom Yorke.

In this connection, a few days ago Thom Yorke gave an interview to the French magazine Télérama in which he spoke about climate change and the role that art can play in changing people's awareness: Yorke became personally engaged with environmental issues from the 1990s onwards, also deciding to cut meat from his diet, and with Radiohead he has actively collaborated on various projects for Greenpeace, Friends of The Earth and art.350.org.