WAGS and Premier league footballers aren’t the first people I think of as climate activists, but I owe them an apology.

Anoesjcka Gianotti, partner of former Chelsea goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini, has set up Footballers4Change, and Jamie and Rebecca Vardy, Cesar and Adriana Azpilicueta, Luka and Vanja Modric, Cesc and Daniella Fabregas and others have all donated shoes, clothes and accessories.

Fans can buy designer wear, as used by their idols, and apart from the money used to run the scheme, all profits will be donated to charity.

The aim is to make wearing quality second-hand clothes really trendy, to reduce the carbon emissions of the clothes industry, which currently accounts for a huge 10per cent of all carbon emissions, and uses far too much water.

If you, or someone you know, is a fan, you can register now on the website.

The first 1,000 items will be available to view from April 4, and you can bid, and buy, from April 24 till April 28.

If successful, the scheme will be extended to other celebrities and their families.

It’s great to find that all sorts of people in all walks of life are now finding good ways to help reduce all our carbon footprints.

I can’t pretend anyone will pay a premium for the hardly-worn clothes that were languishing at the back of my wardrobe, but I can hope that someone will be pleased to find a guilt free spring bargain in a charity shop.

Closer to home it was great to read in last week’s Gazette of the tree planting in Manningtree by PACE, and Colchester Council leader Mark Cory promising that “every decision now is assessed on it’s climate impact”. We must hold them to that!

More good news is that UK carbon emissions have dropped 29per cent in the last ten years, bringing our yearly emissions down to the level they were when the English Football League was founded in 1888.

The bad news is that all those emissions from the last 130 years are still up there, warming the planet more and more, and they will be there for thousands of years to come. We are now heading the right way, but the job is not done yet.

More bright ideas and goodwill are still needed to bring our carbon footprint down to zero as soon as we can, and then to find ways to take that carbon back out of our air.

One very effective way is to stop banks funding the climate crisis.

Coal mines and oil wells aren’t as profitable as they used to be, now that renewable energy is cheaper as well as cleaner, and is creating lots of good jobs.

Barclays is the worst bank in Europe for financing fossil fuel companies, according to Greenpeace, with billions of pounds a year.

We need to be loud and clear in telling them that this just isn’t acceptable, especially if you have an account with them.

Customers sending emails explaining that they are looking to move their money to an ethical bank, such as Tridios, can work wonders.