Letter: So much hot air

Sir: Your leader ("It ain't half hot, Prime Minister", 3 November) indicates that atmospheric CO2 and climate disturbance look set to get an extra boost about 40 years from now, due to rainforest decay and economic incompetence. This reinforces the case for applying the brakes on the upward trend in atmospheric CO2 concentrations immediately.

A juggernaut takes a lot of stopping. The present UK electricity supply system took some 40 or so years to create. It could easily take just as long to switch to a more CO2-friendly mixture of technologies, especially if we include transport and efforts to cut disproportionate per capita energy use.

This "deliverability" issue should be high on the agenda at Buenos Aires. We urgently need real commitment from the big CO2-emitters this time around.

TONY ROBSON

Cheltenham