Climate Hope

The entranceway to COP21: The Paris climate conference. After years of anticipation, policymakers have agreed a new global deal to tackle climate change. The fact that such a sentence can be written without caveats demonstrates real, tangible, progress. But make no mistake, the Paris deal does not on its own equate to transformative change. Here are a few reflections on what the Paris deal means for the future of climate policy. It moves the conversation People can now honestly say that there is  a 'global climate deal'. That means that instead of policymakers fretting about getting one, they can now focus on delivering actual emissions reductions, which is the whole point of the exercise, really. That may sound glib, but it's an important step (albeit incredibly belated). Perhaps the most enlightening comment I heard during my brief visit to the negotiations was that the deal has the potential to 'normalise' the issue of climate change.