Michael Bloomberg: Realistic Goals for the Paris Climate Conference
The trend is moving in the right direction, and if the U.N. gathering in the fall speeds it up, that’s success.
Originally pusblished on the Wall Street Journal.
By Michael R. Bloomberg
June 28, 2015
There is a good chance that in five months the United Nations’ conference on climate change in Paris will set the world on a path to taming global greenhouse gas emissions—a topic the U.N. will discuss on Monday. But the definition of success in Paris has been widely misunderstood, and as a result there is a risk that success may be viewed as failure.
Let’s be clear what won’t result from the Paris conference: an all-encompassing agreement akin to the 1987 Montreal Protocol, which phased out production of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other substances that deplete the ozone layer.
Climate pollutants, on the other hand, are everywhere. They are a waste product of nearly every aspect of modern life, and they are not limited to carbon; methane, soot and nitrous oxide all contribute to rising temperatures. No single global tax or regulatory scheme will solve this problem, even if one were politically feasible, which it isn’t.
Continue reading the full article on the Wall Street Journal here.
