Climate convergence
Delegates from around the world have gathered in Warsaw this week to discuss a path toward a post-Kyoto Protocol climate agreement. Robert Stavins, the Kennedy School’s Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government and head of the Harvard Project on Climate Agreements, is attending the conference. The Gazette sat down with him beforehand to talk about what’s expected from the session and next steps. GAZETTE: Can you tell me who is attending the conference and describe its purpose? STAVINS: This is the 19th annual Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change [UNFCCC]. There will be delegations from the approximately 195 countries who participate in that convention and who originally negotiated the Kyoto Protocol and who are now in the process of negotiating what will be a successor to it. GAZETTE: How important is this conference in making progress toward a new global agreement? STAVINS: It’s important as a step...