Following two weeks of intense negotiations in Paris, the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21) concluded as leaders reached a landmark agreement to address global climate change. As President Obama noted at the opening of COP21, the parties faced the formidable task of “building an enduring framework for human progress—not a stop-gap solution, but a long-term strategy that gives the world confidence in a low-carbon future.”
On December 17, the Brookings Group on Energy and Climate, an institution-wide initiative that generates policy recommendations to address climate change and related issues, hosted Todd Stern, U.S. Department of State’s special envoy for climate change, for a conversation on the outcomes of the Paris negotiations and the next steps in terms of implementation of the agreement.
Brookings Vice President Bruce Jones, director of the Foreign Policy program and chair of the Brookings Group on Energy and Climate, lead the discussion with Stern, who addressed the future of international cooperation in combating climate change.