Truth on climate change is inconvenient

Sir, – I have no doubt that Gordon Pay is sincere in his views about climate change (Courier Letters, December 21).

However, it would appear that the rest of the world is simply not listening.

Ten rivers in Africa and Asia are responsible for an incredible 90% of all plastic waste in the seas.

Wind turbines are manufactured by using fossil fuels, the base needs 1,000 tons of concrete and the manufacture of the cement and steel used creates thousands of tons of CO2 and the rare metals cause environmental and health problems in China.

Meanwhile, there are 341,000 turbines in the world.

Mr Pay says that the IPCC was established in 1988 which is correct.

However, after – so far – 30 years and 24 years of climate conferences, except for a handful of countries, the Paris agreement is based on promises and not legallybinding climate change acts.

The promises made in Paris need to increase three fold to keep the global warming increase below 2C and no country has as yet signed up.

In the meantime China is forging ahead with new projects in both coal and gas.

These will dwarf any emission reductions the west can realistically achieve.

It is worth issuing a reminder – Scotland is responsible for 0.13 per cent (UK 1.3) of global emissions while India and China (at 36%) will grow their rate of emissions until after 2030.

Clark Cross.

138 Springfield Road, Linlithgow.

Picture: Getty Images. Masked residents in Jinan, Shandong Province, take action to cope with the smog there.