At COP15 in Copenhagen, world leaders came inadequately prepared, fumbled the negotiations, and sent a strong negative signal into energy markets. Incumbency companies and their investors read the failed talks as a long-lived licence for coal IPOs, frontier oil and gas exploration, booming unconventional carbon-fuel production and all the other paraphernalia of a fossil-fuel status quo.

At COP21 in Paris, governments will be coming ready and able.