Cop26 did not go anywhere near far enough in agreeing climate action

Letters to the editor: our readers share their views. Please send your letters to letters@independent.co.uk

Cop26 president Alok Sharma (PA)

Two weeks of Cop26 results in world leaders proving, once again, they are incapable of coming together to confront a threat to all humanity.

Yes, there are some modifications, gestures, but will even these be realised when you look at the failure of past Cop summits to deliver real action?

One day, when climate and biodiversity loss are truly recognised as being at a high enough level, action will be taken. It will cost more, with the poorest suffering most.

But that is where we are after two weeks of blah, blah, blah.

Paul Donovan

London

If the animal kingdom were now to hold their own Cop conference, who would they blame for destroying planet Earth? Humanity.

Collectively, we are responsible for polluting the air, the earth and our oceans and rivers, and for destroying our forests and wildlife.

Some countries are more culpable, others are perpetuating the worst excesses of our industrial activity, and some are innocent victims of our ignorance and greed.

None of our innocent children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren asked for this and yet they must pay for our ongoing mistakes.

We fear for their future and we must listen to them.

G Shirra

Address supplied

Given that China and India, two of the worst polluters, failed to support a meaningful agreement at Cop26, can we expect the protesters of Extinction Rebellion and Greta Thunberg to visit Beijing and Delhi with their protests?

Michael Pate

Preston

Believe your eyes

How many more accusations like those of Jennifer Arcuri will it take before Tory MPs are able to accept “that if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and talks like a duck then it is a duck”.

The damage Boris Johnson is doing to our standards and democracy is becoming clearer by the day, and the only people who can stop him are his own MPs who need to believe the evidence of their eyes, ears and particularly their noses. If they don’t act now they will be remembered as part of the problem. Is this the legacy they want?

John Simpson

Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire

New neighbourhoods

Plans to accelerate the transition to public transport will involve building housing developments and business parks with little or no car parking space. The “20-minute neighbourhood” will mean that the facilities one needs will be available in a small surrounding area requiring little or no transport. The circular economy will mean recycling, reusing, making do and mending.

This may be hard for most people to grasp, but it is what I remember of life in my childhood after the war. Younger siblings wore hand-me-down clothes that their elders had grown out of. Shopping was done on foot on a pretty much daily basis at a range of small outlets in one’s own district.

This is what reducing demand on resources means: going without, settling for something less than we want, making do and mending. Reduced to our 20-minute neighbourhoods, restricted by the limits of public transport, our horizons will shrink, cultural life will stagnate.

What the young, whose demand for new clothes, accessories and gadgets is limitless, will make of it remains to be seen.

Jill Stephenson

Edinburgh