It would take a conspiracy theorist to imagine that the rioting supporters of the gilets jaunes movement in Paris are in cahoots with the Polish government, hosts of this week’s climate change summit. But it would be entirely logical if they were.
The barricades on the Champs-Élysées and the location of the conference officially known as COP24 represent the same side of a political faultline in the tackling of global climate change that we have ignored for too long.
It is necessary to change the world’s energy structure dramatically. But much of the burden of the adjustment is set to hit the living standards of those already worst off.