U.N. climate chief Simon Stiell said last week most countries have indicated they will still produce their plans this year.

“Countries are taking this extremely seriously, which isn’t surprising given these plans will be key to how much of the 2 trillion boom governments can secure,” Stiell said, citing the $2 trillion invested globally in clean energy and infrastructure last year.

“So taking a bit more time to ensure these plans are first-rate makes sense,” he added.

Here’s the conundrum. Of course this is positive spin, but it’s also true. Countries will move if it becomes an economic imperative. But economics is what caused all this!

Obviously things are bad but it’s important not to lose hope. The green-tech revolution (thanks China) means that climate projections are actually slightly less bad than they were a decade ago. This is a small hopeful fact that for some reason is not widely known.

the missed deadline adds to concerns that climate action has fallen down government agendas

I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. It’s just not a priority in most countries.