I feel like we are already there. That these people are allowed to keep the profits they made through lying and environmental destruction-- ("um well actually compared to generations past we are much greener")-- is the most telling flaw in the system.

They aren't penalized at all for lying, and not lying is a massive loss of potential profit. So then, why not lie, is their logic.

We are much greener though, at least in the West. Climate emissions peaked in Europe and North America in the last few decades (earlier in Europe.) In Europe, forests are growing back, because marginal agricultural land is being returned to forests as yields rise on prime land. I think this is beginning to happen in the US as well.

This doesn't mean climate change isn't a problem, because even with this progress, we're way behind and not moving nearly fast enough. But often it's the green side of the spectrum that's lying by catastrophizing and understating progress, while overstating the severity of what's happening.

It's happening similarly with AI, where the green movement has decided that AI is unacceptable, even though it has a tiny ecological footprint compared to activities like watching Netflix or eating nuts, let alone eating beef or flying on a plane.