Lovely; and nothing one reads about Habitation Jouissant, a property that is being redeveloped as a Courtyard by Marriott hotel, suggests it is in imminent danger from climate change. It is high enough not to be threatened by rises in sea level or flooding, and has suffered no storm damage to date. However, the United States government appears concerned.

In 2019, according to a recent investigation by Reuters (“Rich nations say they’re spending billions to fight climate change. Some money is going to strange places”), the US agreed to lend US$19.5 million to the owners of Habitation Jouissant for improvements – extra rooms, an infinity pool, a rooftop restaurant, upgraded gym facilities, that sort of thing.

The US then claimed the US$19.5 million towards its share of money allocated to help developing countries reduce emissions and manage the impact of climate breakdown. At the 2009 Copenhagen climate talks, developed nations agreed they would be providing an annual US$100 billion for such purposes by 2020.

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According to the Reuters report, which looked at declarations made by individual countries to the United Nations, “A US State Department spokesperson said the loan for the hotel counted as climate finance because the project included storm water control and hurricane protection measures,” but quite how that assistance helps the people of Haiti in general is unclear.

For its part, “a Marriott spokesperson said the company does not get involved in its franchisee’s financing arrangements and had no role in the US decision to count the loan as climate finance”.

The Reuters report uncovered some other odd claims being made under the guise of climate finance; “Italy helped a retailer open chocolate and gelato stores across Asia; Belgium backed the film La Tierra Roja, a love story set in the Argentine rainforest; and Japan is financing a new coal plant in Bangladesh and an airport expansion in Egypt.”

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The five projects together accounted for US$2.6 billion spent or lent – ostensibly to address issues related to climate change.

How does the production of a cinematic romance help Argentina prepare for climate collapse? “A Belgian government spokesman defended counting the grant for the rainforest film as climate finance because it touches on deforestation, a driver of climate change.”

How do a new coal plant and airport expansion help Bangladesh and Egypt reduce their emissions? “Japanese officials consider the power and airport projects green because they include cleaner technology or sustainable features.” (If we could, we’d use an eye-roll emoji here).

And the opening of Venchi chocolate shops across Asia (there are 16 in Hong Kong alone)? “An Italian government official said Italy aims to consider climate in all of its financing but did not elaborate on how the chocolate stores met that goal.”

There’s no suggestion of legal wrongdoing in any of this, as the US$100 billion-a-year pledge (which has never been met, even with creative accounting) came with no definitions as to what constitutes climate finance. But these investments do suggest that our impending doom is still not being taken completely seriously by the world’s wealthiest governments.

If Destinations Known were in charge of a country, we’d be tempted to invest our billions in the manufacturers of greenwash.

Has Saudi Arabia crossed The Line?

To describe Saudi Arabia’s The Line as ambitious is quite the understatement.

On blueprints, the US$500 billion wall-like city designed to house 9 million residents and wow tourists runs for 170km (105 miles) inland from the Red Sea across coastal desert and mountains in the special economic area of Neom, in Tabuk province. When finished, it will be 200 metres (656ft) wide and 500 metres tall.

Or will it?

Peter Cook, one of more than a dozen architects working on The Line, has described the scheme’s proposed height as “stupid”, reports the Architects’ Journal.

Cook, 86, was talking at an exhibition hosted by Neom in Venice during the recent Biennale of Architecture when he described the linear city, which is already under construction, as an “amazing absurdity” – albeit in a good way:

“I love absurdities; here we are in probably the most idiosyncratic city in the world [Venice], and it is also absurd” – and suggested that any engineer would agree that a height of 500 metres was “a bit stupid and unreasonable”.

He said that 200 metres (above sea level) might be “getting near the [perfect] spot”, although 150 metres was “quite agreeable, high enough, nice view, easy to get up and down”. He finally suggested that the structure would “eventually reach” just 50 metres.

We may have to wait until 2030, when completion of the first phase of The Line is expected, to find out whether Cook was talking sense.