Political agency: The key to tackling climate change

Individuals play a central role in the transformations required to avoid dangerous climate change This month, representatives from more than 190 nations are gathering in Paris to participate in the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21). There is widespread demand for a universal and binding political agreement that will limit the global average temperature increase to less than 2°C above its preindustrial value. But an agreement by itself does not guarantee action and desirable outcomes, and current pledges are far from sufficient to limit warming to 2°C. Nor are new technologies and energy infrastructure a panacea. Meeting this ambitious target and adapting to the impacts and risks associated with a warmer world will require transformations of a scope, magnitude, speed, and penetration that are unprecedented in human history. Without an instruction manual, where do we begin?