Images of the Beijing sky-line, seemingly bathed in a soup of smog and haze have been never far from the world’s TV screens over recent days and weeks.

International reporters with hand-held air pollution detectors have been popping up on street corners checking the levels of soot and dust.

Everyone seems keen to prove that the city’s air will be a decisive and debilitating factor for one of the world’s most high profile sporting events.

Without doubt Beijing is facing a huge challenge. There are real and understandable concerns for the health of competitors, especially those in endurance and long distance events such as cycling and the marathon.

But the current frenzied focus is marked by a modicum of amnesia—air pollution was a major concern in Los Angeles 24 years ago.

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I come back from Kenya. AFD and other donors including the World Bank and EIB are financing a large-scale public geothermal investment program that will supply most of Kenya’s future power generating capacity. The power generation mix that will fuel Kenya’s rapidly growing economy over the next decade will be carbon-poor.

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