This week, India failed to appear at Alok Sharma’s two-day conference intended to outline plans for the upcoming COP26 summit. It follows an earlier meeting of the G20, in which they also refused to commit to the agreed language of net-zero emissions. India was the only country out of 51 invitees not to attend Sharma’s conference…

Having refused to appear in-person on the grounds that they’d already made their position clear at the G20 meeting, they then blamed “various technical issues” for failing to take part virtually. Guido doesn’t buy it: India is the third-biggest emitter in the world, and have long resisted pressure to phase out fossil fuels. 75% of India’s energy supply comes from coal, and even generous projections suggest it’ll still be around 50% by 2030.

Skipping the COP26 meeting was a deliberate snub. Net-zero targets are beyond pointless if India (and China) aren’t playing ball. It makes Allegra’s ‘don’t wash dishes before putting them in the dishwasher’ plan look even more ridiculous…