Prospects for Progress: Moving Forward on Climate Policy (Perspectives‪)‬

There has been some modest progress over the past 12 months in the international negotiations over climate change, but there is still an insufficient understanding of the urgency with which the science indicates we should be dealing with this challenge. We have seen the intense build-up to the 15th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), COP15, in Copenhagen in December 2009 and the deep disappointment in the outcome; the mid-term elections in the United States of November 2010, which have essentially removed the possibility of strong federal climate legislation for the foreseeable future; and the publication in October 2010 of the outline of China's 12th five-year plan (for the period 2011-15), which appears to set a clear route towards low-carbon growth. Now that COP16, the UNFCCC conference following Copenhagen, has taken place in Cancun, Mexico--constructive both in atmosphere and outcome--where do we stand on prospects for international and national action on climate change? [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]