AS COP26 in Glasgow draws to a close, there can be no doubt that urgent action is needed to save the planet.

The question is where can we find hope that humanity can step up to do what’s needed?

The answer, sadly, is not from world leaders.

Regardless of whether any deal keeps the prospect of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees in play, it is a fact that no government is currently doing enough to actually reduce emissions in line with what scientists tell us must be done.

Emissions are still going up when they must be halved in the next decade. Even where close-to-acceptable targets have been set, they are being missed.

Far too much emphasis is still being placed on techno-fixes that don't even exist. And then there is the UK Government, blundering on, despite everything, with cuts to aviation taxes and support for new coal mines. 

So there’s one simple message to everyone frustrated with political leaders and their blah, blah, blah. Campaigning for more action is vital, but if you want change, you also need to vote for it.

Greens in Glasgow will go into next year's local elections with a clear message - that the only way to ensure climate action matches climate ambition is to elect more Greens.

This term, we've forced the climate and ecological emergencies to the top of the agenda.

We’ve dragged the instinctively timid SNP to set a 2030 net-zero target, instead of their initial 2045 offering. We've invested in quick wins, like replacing the council's most polluting vehicles with zero emissions alternatives. And we've put social justice alongside climate justice, with funding for parks, car-free schools, and local food growing in every part of Glasgow, while other parties have clung to 1960s ideas of driving roads through deprived communities.

As part of the Scottish Government, Greens are delivering £1.8bn to make buildings cheaper and greener to heat. We've secured record spending on walking and cycling, and we've forced significant policy shifts on oil and gas.

But we must still go further. That should include shifting power and resources from the centre to local cities and regions.

Glasgow's 2030 net-zero target is way ahead of the national aim for 2045. We cannot succeed if we are bound to national policies. Our greater ambition demands greater capacity to act.

Because for all that it is an old saying, “think global, act local” remains a good mantra to live by.

My COP26 has involved joining constituents to plant new trees and bulbs in much-loved Bellahouston Park, and residents in Shawlands and East Pollokshields who want to transform neglected patches of green space. It has involved meeting many who opened their homes to guests from indigenous communities and the global south. And it was topped off with an emotional welcome given to Little Amal, the 3.5 metre puppet of a 9-year-old Syrian refugee, at the Bowling Green in Pollokshields, six months on from an incredible act of solidarity on Kenmure Street. 

This local action is what’s given me hope these past two weeks. It is the opposite of blah, blah, blah. Humanity can make the systemic changes we need if we come together to create alternatives and make them happen.