There are many reasons why I’m pessimistic about mankind’s ability to reduce the amount of carbon we produce and so limit climate change, and they are not all to do with the short-term self-interest shown by the coal and oil industries.

The recent World Cup decisions are an excellent example of putting national esteem, business-as-usual and pleasure before the health of the global environment.

Moscow will be bad enough when Russia hosts the 2018 World Cup, if this summer’s record temperatures are anything to go by, with above 40 degrees Celsius recorded in the city, but it is Qatar, who host the finals in 2022, that is the shock.

Not only does it have fewer people than West Yorkshire, but its average summer temperatures are in the mid 40s, and it has less than three inches of rain in the whole year. It’s not natural football territory.

It only exists as a nation because of the oil and gas fields it controls, and these have given it the highest gross domestic income per person in the world – they certainly live off the fat of the gas fields.

Even though it will be short-term as these fossil fuels have a limited life – some 30 years or so – they still use them as if they will last forever, and in many ways Qatar is an excellent example of the way the world population abuses the planet’s resources.

Every Qatari is responsible for 55 tonnes of CO2 a year, the highest in the world, three times the rate in the USA, and six times more than our contribution. This is because with abundant gas to produce electricity it’s free to all domestic users and, surprisingly, so is the water in this desert kingdom.

They use 400 litres each per day, and all of it comes from desalination of sea water, a process that is very electricity-intensive.

Even more electricity is needed to turn the exported gas into its liquid state, at -160C, and it is in this form that some of it reaches us, via Milford Haven, and keeps our gas grid going.

This abuse of energy gets even worse as petrol is heavily subsidised, at about the tenth of our price, and there are extensive plans for more roads, and, by 2022, a new rail and metro system. It goes without saying that with free electricity, air conditioning is the norm, and that gobbles up the gas.

The winning 2022 bid suggested that the football stadiums and the fan areas will be air-conditioned using solar power to make them carbon-neutral, but that would be a first for a country that wins first prize for the abuse of energy and the production of CO2.