UN General Assembly
2015

I strongly believe that many of the major economic Powers want to reach an agreement at the twenty-first session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21) in Paris. Many have already come forward with meaningful mitigation contributions that will certainly require a great deal of effort to achieve. While we know it is not enough, I do not doubt their sincerity. However, I am starting to doubt whether they are willing and able to make the fundamental changes in their political and economic systems required to achieve our ambitious goals. The intense lobbying to accept an unsatisfactory outcome has already begun, and in the international process, that has often meant that we will be presented with a take-it-or-leave it deal at COP21. Would such an agreement have any legitimacy? Can we solve the climate problem without it?