[dafrie]

From economic theory, the concept of time inconsistency [1] in my opinion explains pretty well whats currently going on:

For current governments, it is allegedly optimal to not take immediate action but to announce/commit to actions in the future. Problem is, that for the next government, the same result from the optimization problem arises.

A similar pattern can be found with nuclear waste, a problem that is known since many decades, yet there are very few permanent solutions.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_inconsistency

[TeMPOraL]

Dynamic inconsistency assumes a person actually wants to do something in the future, but in the future, their calculations change. I fear it's much simpler than that.

Political system is a strong selection process in itself. It selects for people who can pander to public the best, and make best deals with their colleagues. Any effort spent on making something good happen, or even making good on the promises used to get in, is an effort wasted; it's something the system slowly but surely selects against.