Bill Wiggin’s comments on climate change (Talking Point 14 March) displayed alarming complacency. He writes that the UK’s CO2 emissions fell in 2018 for the sixth consecutive year and were 361 million tonnes. This he says is good progress.

The Committee on Climate Change doesn’t agree. They warned last June: “The UK is not on course to meet the legally binding fourth and fifth carbon budgets”.

Those legally binding budgets or targets for emissions reductions - enshrined in the UK’s 2008 Climate Change Act – are now widely seen by climate scientists as completely insufficient to prevent global warming exceeding 2 degrees by 2050. Warming is already close to 1 degree and continues to rise. It’s vital that action plans based on the science of 2008 are revised to reflect the latest data and analysis.

Claiming good progress against a target that is no longer valid is a form of denial. This is exactly why Extinction Rebellion is taking to the streets. For too long governments have failed to tell the truth about climate change, and in doing so are failing in their duty to protect the population.

The United Nations seems to get it - secretary general António Guterres said last week, “The climate strikers’ urgency has inspired me to call a UN summit”. UK parliamentarians take note. And I urge them to put as much energy and passion into the next Commons debate on climate change as they do when arguing about Brexit. Turning up would be a start.

Robert Palgrave

Hereford Green Party