New lockdowns make for a grim start to the year but the brilliance of the vaccine scientists will probably mean a return to flying in 2021. Many business travellers gagging to return to the departure lounges may have to wait, however. It’s not just that post-virus corporate cost-cutting will keep many travellers at home. It’s also that the environmental pressure against flying grew rather than shrank during last year’s lockdowns.

It was not what I expected. During more than 30 years of reporting I had noticed that bosses tended to jettison corporate responsibility pledges during downturns. I thought Covid-19 would mean a dilution of companies’ recent devotion to green issues.

It hasn’t happened. Investors are pushing companies harder on the environment than ever. Witness the shareholder pressure on ExxonMobil that last month resulted in the oil group announcing emission cuts — which were immediately denounced as inadequate. See, too, the departure of some senior executives at Royal Dutch Shell over frustration that the company wasn’t moving fast enough towards greener fuels.