As climate experts from around the world gather in New York for their annual week of talking through the world’s deepest dilemma, the vibes are mostly bad.

Though 2026 seems likely to set a new global temperature record (and 2027, as El Niño gathers steam, is almost certain to break it), and though the planet has careened from one climate disaster to another (European heatwaves that killed tens of thousands, a Nepali flood that wiped out entire communities), and though scientists warn that we’re reaching precisely the global tipping points they’ve long feared (the new research on the faltering great currents of the Atlantic should send a literal chill up your spine), there’s a distinct lack of political momentum.

The host superpower is attacking country after country in search of oily “energy dominance”; even the noblest of its opponents (Canada’s Mark Carney, hope of democratic rebirth in the Americas) is busy building new oil and gas pipelines in the hopes it can bolster his besieged economy. Britain, which finally purged coal power from its energy system last year, now seems poised to start new drilling in the North Sea. If there’s an apocalyptic fear that can still rouse politicians to action, it seems to be AI agents breaking through firewalls, not European nations facing firestorms.

But there is one solitary (and very literal) ray of sunshine amidst this........

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