Los hermosos Campos Elíseos están iluminados por millones de luces centelleantes que, este año, están alimentadas con energía renovable. Hay un aerogenerador tan alto como el Arco del Triunfo, y 440 paneles solares ocupan gran parte de la rotonda de los Campos Elíseos. Una de las tardes, durante la conferencia sobre cambio climático COP21, que se celebró este mes, no había luz solar ni viento, por lo que los organizadores nos pidieron a quienes pasábamos caminando por la avenida que alimentásemos las luces con bicicletas fijas y ruedas similares a las que usan los hámsteres.

PARIS – The beautiful Champs-Élysées is lit with millions of sparkling lights. This year, they are powered by renewable energy. There is a wind turbine as tall as the Arc de Triomphe, and 440 solar panels take up much of the Champs-Élysées roundabout. One evening during the COP21 climate change conference this month, there was neither sunlight nor wind, so organizers asked those of us strolling down the avenue to power the lights via stationary bikes and hamster wheels. 

As you might expect, the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris, which reached an agreement yesterday to limit the rise in global temperature to less than 2C, has been an international festival of hot air.

The bland, suburban conference centre hosting the two weeks of talks is populated by oversized animal cut-outs – a blue giraffe, a red camel – that we attendees use as landmarks to find our way around.

After two weeks, huge amounts of political rhetoric, and much activity behind closed doors, we have a treaty. While there will be celebrations among activists, the Paris Treaty will do very little to rein in temperature reductions.

The Paris Treaty promises to keep temperature rises below 2°C. However, the actual promises made here will do almost nothing to achieve that. It is widely accepted that to keep temperature rises below 2°C, we have to reduce CO₂ emissions by 6,000Gt.

Many delegates here at the Paris climate conference must have leapt with joy when actor and former Californian governor Arnold Schwarzenegger published a Facebook post this week that went viral, titled “I don’t give a **** if we agree about climate change.”

The politicians and bureaucrats meeting here – now in extra time – must speak in measured language, seldom saying what they really think. Former politicians, on the other hand, get a lot more leeway.

Outside the Paris climate conference center, organizers have erected a ‘Wind Tree’ (Arbre a Vent) which produces electricity using the power of the breeze. In doing so, they have summed up exactly what is wrong with the conference.

The tree will only produce 3,500 kWh per year and it costs about €25,000. So, at a production price of about 7 cents per kWh , it will take 89 years to make up just the capital cost. Or put differently, the cost is 300% more expensive than even traditional wind power, which still struggles without subsidies.

Fuera del centro de conferencias donde se desarrolla la Cumbre del Clima en París, los organizadores han erigido un 'Árbol de viento' (Arbre a Vent) que produce electricidad a partir de la potencia de la brisa. Al hacerlo, han resumido exactamente el enfoque equivocado de la conferencia.

Uden for klimakonferencecentret i Paris har arrangørerne opsat et ‘Vindtræ’ (Arbre a Vent), der producerer elektricitet ved hjælp af brisen. Ved at gøre dette har de opsummeret akkurat, hvad der er galt med konferencen.

Træet vil kun producere 3500 kWh om året, og det koster omkring 27.000 amerikanske dollars (€25.000). Med en produktionspris på omkring 8 amerikanske cents om året vil det tage 89 år bare at tjene anskaffelsesudgiften ind igen. Eller sagt på en anden måde er prisen 300% dyrere end selv traditionel vindkraft, der stadig har det vanskeligt uden subsidier.

Det skærer monsterbeløb af den årlige vækst, hvis klimaaftalen går igennem på COP21 

KRONIK - I officielle materialer til decembers klimakonference i Paris erklærer Bolivia firkantet, at "for at få en varig løsning på klimakrisen må vi udrydde...

In the build-up to Paris, activists and celebrities have been banging the drum for action. Part of this has involved talking up the effects of global warming.

US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders' warns that “climate change is directly related to the growth of terrorism,” while Prince Charles believes that “one of the major reasons for this horror in Syria” is global warming’s effects