Intet er fjernere fra Paris’ overklassehoteller end forstaden Alajo. Men bureaukraterne og politikerne her i Frankrig forhandler om en klimatraktat, der skal ’hjælpe verdens fattigste’, herunder milliarder af dollars i garantier om ’klimastøtte’ til udviklingslandene.

Jeg har i denne blog talt for, at den slags støtte ikke er det, der er ønske om. Jeg har henvist til en enorm global meningsmåling af 8 millioner mennesker, der viser, at folk i verdens fattigste lande prioriterer klimapolitik sidst efter andre politiske prioriteter.

Negotiators and activists are getting increasingly serious about the prospects of finalizing a carbon-cutting deal here in Paris. No doubt if they are successful we will see much back-slapping and exhortations of "success" in 7 days. But the bonhomie will hide a rather inconvenient truth: even if it’s successful, any deal negotiated in Paris is going to do very little to rein in temperature rises.

Si usted no aprende de la historia, está obligado a repetirla. Aquí, en Saint-Denis, al norte de París, es sumamente necesaria una lección de historia. 

Miles se reúnen aquí para la 21a cumbre internacional sobre calentamiento global. Los hoteles ya están casi completos, las emisoras se están instalando, los manifestantes se preparan para rugir.

There is not one single climate activist in sight here at the climate summit venue in Le Bourget on the outskirts of Paris. Understandably, the area is effectively sealed off so there’s not much of an audience.

While many planned marches have been cancelled for security reasons, there are still many protestors in the media and elsewhere, who are passionately pushing those inside the climate talks to push for a more drastic treaty.

Der er ikke én eneste klimaaktivist at se til klimatopmødet herude i Paris-forstaden Le Bourget. Ikke så underligt – hele området er spærret af, så der er i det hele taget ikke det store publikum.

Mens mange planlagte demonstrationer er blevet aflyst af sikkerhedsgrunde, er der mange protester i medierne og andre steder, der ivrigt opfordrer deltagerne i klimadrøftelserne til at presse på for en mere drastisk traktat.

Il n'y a aucun activiste en vue ici au Bourget dans la Banlieue de Paris où se déroule actuellement le sommet sur le climat. La zone a été bouclée, ce qui est compréhensible, et l'on y retrouve quasiment pas de public. 

Cependant, bien que les marches préalablement planifiées aient été annulées pour des raisons de sécurité, vous trouverez encore beaucoup de manifestants passionnés qui tentent de faire pression dans les médias et ailleurs sur les intervenants de ce débat climatique en faveur d'un traité plus drastique.

The decision by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan to use 99% of their Facebook shares to fund charitable initiatives over their lives is an overwhelming statement of generosity. The massive challenge for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative will be how to achieve the most good with this money.

Individual philanthropists play a vital role in development, not least because – unlike political initiatives or groups dependent on fundraising – billionaires can afford to ignore lobby groups and popular attention.

One of the things we’re hearing more and more about here in Paris is so-called “climate aid.” There has been a huge push from climate NGOs to convince rich countries to spend a fortune to help poor countries adjust to global warming. This term is a catch-all for money being given from rich countries to poorer countries for global warming education, solar panels, adaptation, or anything you can imagine that can be linked to global warming.

There’s a lot of focus now on the politics of Paris. Will poor countries get the "climate aid" they want? Will China agree to reduce its growth, leaving millions more in poverty, by committing to far-reaching carbon cuts? What will be the wording of the treaty that emerges?

It’s easy to become cynical. Let’s instead take a step back and ask a much more interesting question: what would it take for Paris to succeed? By this, I don’t mean that the delegates manage to sign some kind of treaty. I mean, what would it take for Paris to have a real impact on climate change?

Is man-made climate change our biggest problem? Are the wildfires, droughts and hurricanes we see on the news an omen of even worse things to come? The United Nations and many political leaders think so and want to spend trillions of tax dollars to reverse the warming trend. Are they right? Will the enormous cost justify the gain? Economist Bjorn Lomborg, director of the Copenhagen Consensus Center, explains the key issues and reaches some sobering conclusions.