APPARENTLY thousands of scientists have agreed that we are experiencing a climate emergency and unless the world mends its ways civilisation as we know it is doomed.

The UK has responded to this challenge by planning to decarbonise the country in five, ten or 30 years depending on which party you listen to.

But what does decarbonise mean?

If it means that our electricity must be entirely “renewable” and our homes must stop using gas for heating and cooking then we have a major problem.

As I write shortly after noon, those “renewables” – wind and solar – are contributing just five per cent to demand.

That is identical to the output of our few remaining coal fired stations but is dwarfed by the 60 per cent that combined cycle gas fired stations are producing, to which we should add the 18 per cent from nuclear.

The latter will diminish soon, as life expired reactors are shut down in the next few years.

Whether you accept the views of eminent scientists or not – one emergency that is staring us in the face is the absolute fact we cannot generate our existing needs without gas and nuclear.

D W Lacey, Newton Hall, Durham.