No fish in Sauchiehall St

The news about climate change never seems to be good news. But a new study which found Glasgow and Edinburgh are two of the safest cities in the world to ride out global warming will doubtless provide some comfort.

In the UK, winter storms may get worse and flooding is expected to become more of a problem, but we’re ready for it, or at least better prepared than most other parts of the world, according to the experts. Fish won’t be swimming down Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow any time soon – unlike in low-lying Miami, where the highest tides already bring sea life into the city.

However, we shouldn’t be too quick to count our blessings. In a globalised world, no country is truly an island. The economic impact of severe climate change across the world is likely to have a significant effect on Scotland.

Unless the world works together to prevent the global temperature rise from reaching a ‘dangerous’ point thought to occur between 1.5C to 2C of warming – we’ve already had about 1C – no city anywhere in the world can be confident it will escape entirely unscathed.