Climate experts claim the target for net zero emissions by 2050 is necessary to avoid dangerous climate change.
Caroline Pomeroy, Director of Climate Stewards, a Christian charity that helps people offset unavoidable carbon emissions by supporting projects in developing countries, told Premier: "It's probably the most urgent and important question of our time, the implications of climate change.
"I think we can easily get distracted by short term politics, but climate change impacts the poorest and most vulnerable people on the planet and the creatures that we share it with.
"As Christians, we really truly love our neighbours. That means our global neighbours and I think that we, who are mostly contributing to climate change are called to do what we can."
The letter's signatories include emeritus Professor Joanna Haigh from Imperial College London, Myles Allen from Oxford University, Sir Brian Hoskins, who chairs the Grantham Institute on Climate Change, and Professor Dame Julia Slingo.
Prof Haigh said it was a question of seizing the day.
"It's such an important topic, we've all the scientific indicators that show something needs to be done, and it's in the Conservative Party tradition going back to Margaret Thatcher."
She said it could be an achievement of Mrs May's premiership, which would be great for the UK and set an example for the rest of the world.
A Government spokesman said: "We already lead the world in tackling climate change, being the first country to introduce long-term legally-binding carbon reduction targets and cutting emissions further than all other G20 countries.
"The Committee on Climate Change's report now sets us on a path to become the first major economy to legislate to end our contribution to global warming entirely and we will respond in a time frame which reflects the urgency of the issue."
In their letter to Mrs May the experts said the science was "unequivocal" that avoiding dangerous climate change means not just reducing carbon emissions but bringing them to net zero.
They wrote: "A net zero target is what science concludes is necessary to meet the Paris targets, and to set one in law swiftly, in line with the expert advice commissioned by your Government, is within your gift.
"To do so would be an act of global importance for future generations, and a worthy legacy."
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