Global Energy Center Nonresident Senior Fellow Heather Zichal writes for the Christian Science Monitor on why no single agreement should be expected to be the final solution to the climate crisis:
Today marks the final week of COP 21 in Paris, the latest UN brokered negotiation to address the global climate crisis, and with it comes high expectations that world leaders will finally come up with a historic and binding global agreement that can prevent the most catastrophic impacts of climate change. While the talks in Paris are likely to culminate in a significant agreement, we should remember that global climate change negotiations have long been an incremental process and the Paris talks are not likely to be far different.
From Kyoto, to Bali, to Copenhagen, and now Paris, UN climate talks have always provided a foundation for new progress and progress to come. However, no single agreement has ever been nor should it be expected to be the final solution to the climate crisis. It is through that prism that we should examine Paris and our expectations of outcomes from the talks. We need to manage expectations so that perfect doesn’t become the enemy of good.