THE NEW ECONOMY013

ll countries have a great deal to win fromstrong international action on climatechange and from a strong outcome at theUN Climate Change Conference inCancún. And they stand to lose a great deal if there isnot enough action. Throughout this year, governments have focused onlaying the foundations of the next chapter of theclimate regime, in order to usher in a new energyrevolution and help the poorest and most vulnerableadapt effectively to climate change.In a series of UNFCCC gatherings, governments havediscussed what is doable this year, and what may have to be left until later. There are politicaldisagreements, mainly over how and when to agree ona fair share of the responsibilities of action amongst allcountries, in the short, medium and long term. Butgovernments can break those deadlocks and bridgetheir differences.Already last year, the world saw the emergence of high-level political will to tackle climate change as thedefining challenge of our time. A powerful wind isblowing from societies, science and business to meetthe climate challenge. Governments must now set fullsail ahead to capture these winds of change thathumanity wants to release.Governments have both the opportunity andresponsibility to build on past efforts in five key areas.First, they need to resolve what to do with their publicpledges to cut emissions. All industrialised countrieshave made public pledges to cut emissions by 2020,and all major developing countries have submittedplans to limit their emissions growth. How thesepledges can be captured and entered in a binding wayinto an international agreement is a key question forgovernments. But even if all current pledges weredelivered on time, the response would remaininadequate in the long-term to keep within safer globaltemperature rises.Therefore, more stringent actions to reduce emissionscannot be postponed much longer and industrialnations must lead.International agreements that incorporate effectivemechanisms to speed up and scale up action betweeneconomies can undoubtedly help individual countriesraise their efforts to cut emissions. To progress,governments also need to have a serious conversationabout the Kyoto Protocol, which is the only existinginternational agreement with legal status to verifyemission reductions, not least for the sake of clarity onthe future of the carbon market.Second, governments can agree a comprehensive setof ways and means to allow developing countries totake concrete climate action. This includes adapting toclimate change; limiting emissions growth; obtainingadequate finance; boosting use of technology andpromoting sustainable forestry. All developingcountries need help to take these actions, but thepoorest and most vulnerable among them needsupport most urgently.In this context, it is critically important to turn dry textsinto a set of keys that unlock a new level of climateaction among rich and poor, business and consumers,governments and citizens. If climate financing andtechnology transfer make it possible to give thousandsof villages efficient solar cookers and lights, not only doa nation's entire carbon emissions drop, but childrenRight: ChristianaFigueres has beeninvolved in climatechange negotiationssince 1995 and is a widely published author on the design of climate solutionsFOREWORD"IT IS CRITICALLYIMPORTANT TOTURN DRY TEXTSINTO A SET OFKEYS THAT UNLOCK A NEWLEVEL OF CLIMATEACTION AMONGRICH AND POOR,BUSINESS ANDCONSUMERS, GOVERNMENTSAND CITIZENS "014THE NEW ECONOMYACHRISTIANA FIGUERES, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY,UNITED NATIONS FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE (UNFCCC)