A climate conference’s startling, self-defeating contradictions

The many ironies of this year’s United Nations climate meeting have not been lost on anyone. The world’s seventh-largest oil-producing country, the United Arab Emirates, is hosting it. That country’s top oil executive is presiding over it. It’s happening at the end of the hottest year on record, during which the United States alone faced at least 25 climate and weather disasters costing over $1 billion apiece.