Mr Prescott, who helped broker the 1997 Kyoto agreement, is now the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe's delegate on the issue.

He was at Pudsey Grangefield School in Leeds to gather the opinions of the students there ahead of the UN Copenhagen Climate Change Conference in December.

The visit was part of his New Earth Deal school tour, which is also taking in Manchester, Birmingham and London.

Chris Edwards, chief executive of Education Leeds, said it was "a huge boost" for youngsters that such a high-profile public figure had visited them to talk about such an important global issue and listen to their views.

Mr Prescott gave an hour-long presentation looking at causes of climate change and his experience of the Kyoto treaty. He also screened a clip from The Age of Stupid – a film about climate change and answered questions from pupils.

The Labour stalwart has said despite his eco-warrior role he has no plans to give up his two Jaguars, one based in London and one in his constituency home in Hull.

He has said he barely uses them as 90 per cent of his travel is by train but he keeps them because he likes them.