After the Paris powwow in December the action switched to Davos. Then the serried legions ofjetsetting carbonphobics repaired to the four corners of this tormented planet with renewed messages of a doom that only other people's money can avert

The Paris COP 21 at the end of last year may have set an all-time record for conference attendance of officials, NGOs and lobbyists—40,000 plus at least 5000 from the media. Virtually every world leader made an appearance, many changing their schedules at short notice to attend the opening rather than the close. There may have been a thousand booths of different organisations and countries, and in the course of the deliberations there would have been over 800 formal meetings and presentations.