I READ with a heavy heart the article by Kirsteen Paterson “Scotland is ready for COP26, says Matheson” (Oct 24). I think it should have been headed “Scotland is ready, willing but not able”. Michael Matheson, Scottish Government Energy Secretary, tries to talk and spin up our level of involvement, but when you look at the detail of this involvement the truth is plain for all to see.

The First Minister will take part in “formal presidency events”, whatever those are, “profiling the action and ambitions of woman, young people and states, and will join the UN High Level Champions [who are they?] to promote the role that can be played by governments at all levels in tackling climate change.” The Scottish Government will “play a prominent role in the Peatland, Nordic and Cryosphere Pavilion”. All this does not exactly sound like the host nation being centre stage.

READ MORE: Mhairi Black: COP26 won't show the world what Scotland is really capable of

I have only just realised that I did not know what COP26 stood for it. It seems COP stands for Conference of the Parties, and should be attended by countries that signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – a treaty agreed in 1994. The 2021 meeting will be the 26th meeting, hence COP26. When you consider the current climate change crisis, you have to wonder at what little the previous 25 COPs have achieved.

Thousands of important, even famous, folk from all around the world will be in Scotland. A pity some of the main players, the main producers of CO2, will not turn up. The leader of China, for example, which produces 28% of the world’s CO2 and is building a new coal-fired power station every week. Assuming each of these has a working life of 30 to 40 years, what hope is there for China to reduce its CO2 output any time soon? The UK apparently produces about 1% of global CO2. Scotland’s share is a fraction of that UK figure and shows an overall drop of approximately 44% from 1990 levels.

READ MORE: Scotland 'faces a four-fold Covid spike at COP26 in a best-case scenario'

The Scottish Government has set a legally binding target to cut greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2045, five years ahead of the date set for the UK as a whole. Emissions of all greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide have already been reduced to about half of what they were 30 years ago. Renewables met 97% of Scotland’s electricity demand in 2020 and are displacing tens of millions of tonnes of carbon every year. Scotland has some of the most ambitious climate targets in the world. It is doing its bit. In fact it is going above and beyond its share of global CO2 reduction.

Scotland has no voice at COP26’s top table. Its government has been sidelined, its First Minister silent, absent from the real proceedings, uninvited, unloved and very unwanted. Lots of important guests have arrived at the party but the host is locked out in the cold peering though the lounge window, hoping they enjoy the canapes and don’t spill the red wine on the new carpet.

Brian Lawson
Paisley

WITH the eyes of the world on Scotland, the crucial COP26 global meeting will begin. Hope springs eternal that world leaders will take seriously the mounting climate crisis and also positively commit to their earlier Paris Agreement. However, the following question becomes vital: is Covid-19 another wake-up call?

We share our planet with millions of species along with millions of viruses. Scientists now tell us that as modern connectivity has spread, there is an increase in “genetic variety” that fuses human and animal viral and bacterial infection. Hence the recent global pandemics of HIV in the late 20th century, the SARS outbreak in 2003, avian flu in 2005 and swine flu in 2009 along with the horrors of African Ebola outbreaks and now Covid.

READ MORE: Hillary Clinton issues COP26 warning on The Andrew Marr Show

Human population growth and intense industrial activity has greatly accelerated global warming, destroying rainforests, oceans and denuding the planet in the all-consuming demand for raw materials. The human and animal worlds are now colliding and the once natural boundaries between animal and human disease has decreased, hence this increase in evermore dangerous crossover pandemics. This only adds urgency to world leaders having the courage to save our planets for our children’s children – “The sky, a tree and man will survive, if man understands the tree”.

Grant Frazer
Newtonmore

SHOULDN’T we be embarrassed or even ashamed that our Scottish Government is not keen or maybe able to promote the environmentally friendly alternative to depending on North Sea oil production (a major source of climate change) for an independent economy at the same time as we are hosting the COP26 in Glasgow?

Norman Lockhart
Innerleithen

CONSERVATIVE MP Andrew Bowie shook his head with a look of smug condescension on his face as Brian Cox articulated a few home truths about mask-wearing.

Cox compared Scotland’s greater adherence to mask-wearing to that in England, which he described as a mess with the UK Government acting like “headless chickens.” He went on to say that Tory MPs should be setting an example by wearing masks within the confines of the House of Commons.

WATCH: Andrew Bowie scolded for acting like a 'wee schoolboy' to Boris Johnson

It was a tough night for Andrew Bowie as a member of the audience turned on him. Referring to Bowie as a “wee schoolboy,” the audience member berated him for not lobbying forcefully enough for the Acorn Project at St Fergus gas terminal in Aberdeenshire, effectively “selling Scotland down the river” as the Tory government chose to invest in two sites in England instead.

In his dubious defence of his government’s decision-making, Bowie had the brass neck to suggest that investment in St Fergus is “still in the pipeline.” More weasel words. Bowie is more interested in enhancing his grubby political career than investing in the country of his birth.

Sandy Gordon
Edinburgh