This year seems to have marked a dramatic change in how climate change is both perceived and reported on.

The usual graphs, scientific jargon and pictures of melting ice caps have suddenly been replaced by footage of daily scenes of devastation with wildfires, cyclones and flooding wreaking havoc on communities all over the world.

We saw record-breaking temperatures in Europe (49°C in Italy), Canada (50°C) and Antarctica (18°C). We saw German towns underwater, Greece on fire and droughts all over the world.

Many people who previously doubted they’d see the direct effects of climate change within their lifetimes have had a rude awakening – but this also means that public readiness for taking action to save the planet is stronger than ever before.

All this means that Cop26, the global climate change summit due to be held in Glasgow in November, represents what may be humanity’s last, best hope to take the drastic action that’s required to prevent runaway global warming rendering parts of the world uninhabitable and causing permanent instability.

Cop stands for ‘Conference of the Parties’ and the number 26 reflects the fact that it will be the 26th annual summit. The last COP meeting to reach a substantive and meaningful agreement was Cop21, which led to the Paris Agreement, a legally-binding treaty that set a goal to limit warning to a maximum of 2°C, but preferably 1.5°C. The problem with the treaty is that the goal was not matched by action. They agreed at the time that they would revisit the issue in five years – as Cop26’s website states, this conference “needs to be decisive”.

The website also has a bold headline which reads, ‘Uniting the World to Tackle Climate Change’. A worthy aim, but one that Boris Johnson in his role as the PM during the UK’s Cop presidency has already undermined, with his frankly childish speech to Tory party activists when he said he wanted to completely side-line Scottish FM Nicola Sturgeon from the conference for political reasons. If there were ever a time for rising above pettiness and posturing, then this is surely it.

As Plaid Cymru’s climate change spokesperson, I’m more than willing to work with the Welsh Government to push forward bold initiatives so that Wales can play its part in this momentous global initiative.

My party secured the government’s backing to make Wales the first country to declare a climate emergency in 2019, and we followed this up earlier this year by persuading the Senedd to declare a nature emergency as well.

If Labour Ministers want to discuss how some of Plaid’s ground-breaking climate policies could be enacted (such as zero emissions and 100 per cent renewables by 2035, a nature act and a flood defences programme) then my door is open.

Cooperating for the common good has to mean action, not just warm words, and it’s incumbent on all politicians to put partisanship aside to work together for the future of life on earth.