Going to Paris: Ambassador Todd Stern

Todd Stern, United States Special Envoy for Climate Change

The United Nations climate talks in Poland last year achieved modest progress toward an international agreement on reducing carbon pollution. The aspiration is for heads of state to seal a deal in Paris next year that would take effect in 2020. But rich and developing countries are still far apart on who should bear responsibility for increasing human impacts of severe weather. Even some of the most vigorous proponents of moving away from fossil fuels doubt the UN process will ever produce a treaty with teeth.
Is the U.S. showing leadership at the climate talks or just playing along? Can 190 nations really agree on any meaningful collective action? Could Beijing and Washington cut a bilateral deal that would go a long way toward protecting the climate that supports our economy?

America’s top climate negotiator will share his insights with a public audience for the first time since the Warsaw climate negotiations.

February 19, 2014