New Delhi, Nov. 26 -- After weeks of hot air, the UN's CoP-30 summit limped to an end in Brazil's Amazonian hub of Belem over the weekend, with a 'deal' that delivers nothing measurable for the climate, while wasting political capital and much effort on pledges.

The deal is being slammed by activists for failing to agree on any fossil-fuel phase-out. But this is reality asserting itself.

Poor and middle-income countries, home to roughly 85% of humanity, rightly refuse to sacrifice growth and poverty reduction at the altar of keeping the planet's temperature rise to 1.5degC. And despite their grand promises, Western nations have a diminishing ability to affect the trajectory of global warming.

For decades now, Western governments, espec...