A British-born rabbi has been honoured by the White House for his environmental work.

Rabbi Marc Soloway, who heads a Conservative congregation in Boulder, Colorado, was one of 12 faith leaders recognised on Monday as a "Champion of Change".

He chairs the rabbinic advisory board of Hazon, a Jewish environmental organisation which was founded by another British expat, Nigel Savage.

In Colorado he has helped to develop a community farming project. The White House citation also mentioned that his synagogue powered its ner tamid (everlasting light) using solar panels.

Rabbi Soloway said he was "proud to share this honour with my 88-year -old dad who came from London to the White House with me".

Boulder's Jewish community was, he said, "collectively doing so much good work around these issues with local farming initiatives, zero waste facilities, Jewish goat and chicken co-ops and the only JCC [Jewish community centre] in the world to have an employee for farming and sustainability.

"Together we have been challenging people to think differently about the sources of their food and its impact on the environment, which is, I believe, how we got the attention of the Department of Public Affairs of the White House.

"My hope is that the spotlight on me and other activists across communities of faith will influence others to make changes."

A regular speaker at the Limmud conference in the UK, Rabbi Soloway will be talking about his work at the New North London Synagogue in September.