Cooperation vital for decarbonising planet

CORRESPONDENT Bob Berrisford says that decarbonising our lives is questionable because wind turbines require rare minerals, dependent on mining (“Achieving net zero extracts a high cost,” May 7).

His letter is straight from a list of arguments made by denialists who have lost all credibility claiming that climate change is not real.

Instead, the strategy is to try to suggest green transformation is too costly or too risky.

Perhaps Mr Berrisford really believes that we should carry on digging coal or pumping oil and gas, which is the policy of Exxon, BP, Mr Trump and, lately, Mr Sunak, and so let the people cope with climate change and warming as best they can; never mind the ecosystem collapse, heat, floods, crop failure, water crisis and extinctions.

The world is a complex, messy place. We face an existential threat in climate but we can deal with it if we all act decisively and now.

Meanwhile, the answer to concerns about lax environmental rules and human rights abuses in China and child labour in the Democratic Republic of Congo is rule of law; domestic and international, regulated trade and the power of responsible countries to attempt and sometimes succeed in agreeing rules and trading co-operatively, as we have previously seen in Europe, for the common good.

All choices come with additional dilemmas. Fossil fuels are an overwhelming threat to our future. Increasingly efficient renewable energy and decarbonisation of our economies is the fast-changing alternative.

High-level international cooperation is critical. It’s up to people and nations of goodwill to make sure we do it ethically and properly. I hope that Mr Berrisford is satisfied that I have not, as he suggests, “dodged the question”.

Dr Andrew Blewett