The International Energy Agency says in a net zero world there would still be 20 per cent of global energy supply coming from fossil fuels. As Pilita Clark explains in “Magical thinking on fossil fuels endangers safety” (Opinion, April 30) there is a now a scramble by energy companies, who want to produce that final 20 per cent, to justify expanding oil, gas and coal projects — even as they pledge support for net zero emissions.

But I think it is we, the ordinary public, helpless as we face a terrible climate crisis, who are the ones caught up in the real “magical thinking”.

Conjuring rather than magic is what the big energy giants rely on. Driven by want and greed, not need, these conjurors hide the truly eye-watering amounts of money being pumped right now into new, irreversible and damaging ventures worldwide.

Your columnist’s conclusion says it all: “The fossil fuel project pipeline is already so large that no more exploration or new oilfields are needed in a net zero world. Pretending otherwise must end.”

Barbara Mullarney
London W3, UK

​Letter in response to this letter:

What the queues on garage forecourts tell us / From Robin Cooke-Hurle, London SW11, UK