Academics have demanded career breaks so they can save the planet from climate change as they warn that “humanity is on a precipice”.

Over 700 British professors and lecturers have signed an open letter to vice-Chancellors and research funding chiefs warning that “the very future of life on earth is in question” if “climate breakdown” is not addressed.

Since universities are the “bastions of wisdom and knowledge”, the academics say that their services are urgently needed to combat the “climate crisis”.

The letter, published by the Times Higher Education magazine, is signed by academics from the country’s leading institutions including Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, Bristol universities as well as those from the London School of Economics and Imperial College London.

They use the letter to urge university leaders to “support scientists, academics and students to help address the climate emergency through a series of new programmes, fellowships, sabbaticals and voluntary placements to help the critical efforts needed to save all life on our planet”.

Its publication comes amid increasing concerns from some in the psychological community about the dangers of so-called “eco-anxiety”, although many contest the existence of the phenomenon.

Earlier this month, academics argued that climate scientists should be “allowed to cry” to help deal with the “grief” of documenting environmental decline.