Editorial Comment:

sir – The Extinction-rebellion sponsored Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill, being put to Parliament by Caroline Lucas MP, proposes that Britain use only “natural climate solutions” to achieve net zero, which it defines as “reforestation, sustainable land management, and the restoration of wetlands, peat bogs and coastal ecosystems”.

Wetlands and peat bogs sequester carbon, but they also produce methane due to the anaerobic decomposition of plants under water. As methane has a stronger greenhouse effect than the carbon dioxide the wetlands would be absorbing, this would accelerate warming. This effect is not negligible, with wetlands accounting globally for between 218 and 347 million tons of methane emissions per year.

If Extinction Rebellion cannot be trusted to get even basic climate science right, surely we should be sceptical of its advocacy of other policies, such as removing 24 million gas boilers from British homes, which would force up household bills and increase fuel poverty.

Andrew Newman

Director, Gas Users Organisation Corsham, Wiltshire

sir – The majority of the country would be grateful if Rupert Murdoch sued Extinction Rebellion for all the losses incurred at the printing works last weekend.

This organisation, infiltrated by Left-wing groups, needs to be stopped in its tracks once and for all.

Dr Leonard English

Cawood, North Yorkshire