The world economy is getting shakier by the day, the Amazon has burned its way to the center of the climate change debate, and the leaders of the world's leading democracies will sit around a single table, theoretically charged with coming up with solutions for the biggest problems of the day.
Except that US President Donald Trump is largely uninterested in international agreements, and other G-7 leaders are seriously hobbled at home by political scandal, low poll numbers or lame duck status.
Welcome to the annual Group of Seven summit, which begins Saturday in the southern French resort town of Biarritz.
French President Emmanuel Macron, the host, has already made clear that he has little expectation that Trump will join any statement on fighting climate change even as the issue shot to the top of the agenda with the widespread fires in the Amazon.
He already rejected Trump's request to let Russia rejoin the group five years after being expelled over its seizure of Crimea. And he is trying to hold together the European line on the Iran nuclear deal over US objections.
At the same meeting last year, Trump left early and repudiated the final statement in a tweet from Air Force One. This year, Macron said, there will be no final statement.
"The situation is difficult because on subjects like trade, Iran or the climate, for the first time in a long time the seven are not unanimous," Macron told reporters earlier this week.
"That's why I wanted to avoid pointless declarations. Despite that, I think this work is indispensable because we have to exchange with the United States, because we have to find convergences, because I think it's in our interest to rebuild coordination."