A GIANT butterfly with an important message caught the eye of shoppers walking through Cathedral Square.

A team from Switzerland have been travelling the world in a trailer shaped like a huge butterfly in the hope they will find a solution to global warming.

Patrick Heini, who drives SolarButterfly, said: "The butterfly was built in three months and it's fantastic."

The team is driving around the world, across 90 countries over four years, powered only by solar energy.

"We go around the world and collect suggestions from environmental pioneers who might have a solution for our global problem," he added.

"In 2025 we want to present 1,000 solutions at The Paris Agreement 2025."

The SolarButterfly was developed by Lucerne University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland and is the world’s largest fully functioning ‘tiny’ house powered by solar energy and pulled by an electrical vehicle.

The team travelled across most of Europe last year and they have now set sights on crossing the Atlantic Ocean to Canada USA, Mexico and Central America.

Louis Palmer, who is the brains behind the SolarButterfly, said the purpose of the trip is to highlight existing climate crisis solutions and inspire others to take action. 

Interestingly, Mr Palmer became the first person to drive around the world in a solar-powered car in 2007. 

After retiring as an electrical engineer, Mr Heini, age 72, sailed across the world with his wife and said he was losing hope after seeing large amounts of environmental pollution.

However, Mr Heini said he was fascinated by SolarButterfly and knew he had to take part when approached by Mr Palmer.

Mr Heini said: "The butterfly has restored my faith and I do think we will find a solution to protect the environment in the future."

Members from University of Worcester and Worcester City Council’s sustainability teams were also at the event to talk about the project.

Katy Boom, director of sustainability at the university, said: “We are delighted to be hosting the SolarButterfly World Sustainability Tour here in Worcester.

“This fascinating concept will help to keep the climate crisis at the front of people’s minds and help them to learn about the things we can all do to stop global warming.”