COVID-19 has overshadowed the climate crisis as governments scramble to protect the health of citizens without cratering their economies, but the pandemic could still open a fast-track pathway -- albeit a narrow one -- to a greener, low-carbon future, experts say.
The Chinese term for "crisis" (weiji) is famously composed of two characters, one meaning "danger" and the other "opportunity".
For now, economists see a lot more of the former than the latter.
What the IMF has called the "Great Lockdown" will likely slice $9 trillion off of global growth over the next 20 months, and lower projected GDP in 2020 by more than 6 per cent.
And that is an optimistic scenario, according to the global lender of last resort. If the pandemic extends into 2021 -- as well it might -- GDP "may fall next year by an additional eight percent," IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath said in a blog post last week.
In the short-term, coping with COVID-19 is understandably the singular focus of leaders around the world, even if they are responding very differently.
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But unless climate change is factored into decisions taken in the coming weeks and months, the Paris Agreement target of capping the rise in global temperatures at below two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels could easily be definitively missed.
To some extent, it's about following the money.
"Governments are spending loads to keep their economies afloat," Michael Oppenheimer, a professor of geosciences and international affairs at Princeton University, told AFP.
"Money can be spent in ways that are neutral to the climate problem, or in ways that makes the problem worse or better."
In Europe, 17 climate and environment ministers issued a joint statement earlier this month vowing they would "not lose sight of the persisting climate and ecological crisis."
The EU bloc's Green Deal, they said, "constitutes a new growth strategy... which is able to deliver on the twin benefits of stimulating economies and creating jobs while accelerating the green transition."