I WAS honoured to meet the climate justice pilgrims from Germany, Poland and Sweden walking through East Lothian heading for COP26.

Our county’s tradition of pilgrimage dates to the Middle Ages, when Christians journeyed via North Berwick to St Andrews. This modern Ecumenical Pilgrimage for Climate Justice is focused on climate change, the most urgent issue of our time, impacting unequally on the poor and disadvantaged.

Twenty-eight pilgrims arrived in Dunbar before walking via the John Muir Way past Torness and on to East Linton, North Berwick, Port Seton and Musselburgh. They were hosted by Father Augustine Bobi, parish priest of Our Lady Star of the Sea in North Berwick, and I was privileged to join them for tea and cake provided by parishioners.

I welcomed them to the county, emphasising that, after Covid, climate change is the number one issue here in Scotland. Although we have huge resources of clean energy, including wind power, we cannot be complacent. This is our last chance to get it right and, when I’m attending COP26 events, I’ll be pressing the case for honouring our commitment to future generations.

In a Q&A session in the church hall, one pilgrim asked me: “What do you expect from COP26?” That’s the key question, as those pilgrims clearly recognised and as one of them commented: “There has to be real change; if there’s no change, nothing will happen.”

As MSP, I explained that although many issues were devolved to Holyrood, the climate emergency knows no boundaries. It was encouraging to learn from one of the most experienced pilgrims, Jens Knölker, that among the pilgrims’ three aims, the first is to talk to people they meet on the way, sharing the view that every person who makes a change in their lives will help to ‘make better’.

It was both humbling and uplifting to meet men and women from all backgrounds walking across Europe to remind us of an important fact: solutions to the climate emergency don’t just lie with Presidents and Prime Ministers. Responsibility for ‘making better’ rests with every one of us.