Time to look beyond the UN climate negotiations

A top-down, consensus-driven process involving 195 negotiating parties isn’t likely to slow greenhouse gas emissions. Society’s success curbing nuclear weapons offers a better paradigm.

WASHINGTON – Secretary of State John Kerry should be saluted for energizing US policy on climate change and pushing for global progress toward containment of greenhouse gas emissions.

The impacts of climate change threaten the balance of nature, food supply, and national security. Kerry ambitiously seeks to be a lead broker in a global climate agreement in Paris in 2015 through the ongoing United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The Secretary’s goal is admirable. The pathway is problematic.

It would be nice to trust that this cumbersome process, involving 195 negotiating parties and a massive number of issues, can deliver emissions reductions. But after 22-plus years of pursuing this process, we are concerned: We see little evidence to support that trust.

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