Keeping up the fight

I’D almost forgotten what it was like to be poorly with a cold, but that’s what I came back with from COP26! It’s easy to forget this was always part of the English autumn and winter, having been living a much more isolated life for the last 20 months, and protection from Covid also protects you from the other normal bugs.

I was glad I was due my booster vaccination before I went to Glasgow and managed to get it done at a local pharmacy. I’m sure it made me feel more confident when I was meeting more “strangers” than I’d seen for a very long time.

Glasgow was a very hospitable city, and I was interested to see the impressive architecture, particularly the amazing interior of the Glasgow City Chambers, equivalent to our Council House. The chandeliers, mosaics, paintings and gold leaf, just showed what a fantastically prosperous city it has been.

I wasn’t around the negotiating table discussing national greenhouse gas emission targets, but was there to talk with representatives of other local authorities from the UK and around the world. We wanted to get the message across to governments that we are committed to tackling the climate emergency and are well placed to deliver. People were keen to talk about what we’re doing in Nottingham and it was good to hear from other cities and rural areas about what they are doing, from clean air zones and cycling schemes to and hydrogen production and wind power schemes.

Unfortunately the conference didn’t achieve what it had set out to do, to come up with a plan to reduce emissions to ensure we keep global warming to within 1.5 degrees centigrade of pre-industrial levels, and to commit to support the poorer countries who are on the front line of the crisis. There was moving testimony from people from small island countries which face ruin, but it didn’t persuade the largest coal users to make needed radical change so, despite some progress, environmentalists are very disappointed and have vowed to continue to campaign for more action.

For someone like me, who has been banging on about climate change for years, it would be easy to become disillusioned at the lack of progress after 26 COPS. However, I know we have to continue for the sake of our children and grandchildren,

And then I get a boost from hearing that Nottingham has been put in the Global “A List” of 95 cities for climate leadership and action, so it’s onwards and upwards!

■■ Councillor Sally Longford is deputy leader of Nottingham City Council.