I have been having nightmares about COP26. Every human being alive should be having such nightmares. On its outcome, more depends than is possible to contemplate without trembling. But my nightmares are not mainly about whether COP26 will “work”: that fear has slid shapelessly into emotional exhaustion. Numbness has set in.

My nightmares now look like this. In a side room, a group of theologians are absorbed in conversation about meaning, transcendence, world view and other terms of their trade. In a giant conference hall next door, hundreds of scientists are brainstorming how to keep our earth habitable. Then the theologians excitedly join the main gathering, eager to share their momentous conclusions. They speak, but no one seems to hear them. Dismayed, they raise their voices. But the scientists talk on. They are indifferent. It’s as if the theologians aren’t there.