Carbon Falling, Economies Rising: Expectations for the Paris Climate Summit (Op-Ed)?

Lynn Scarlett is the global managing director for public policy at The Nature Conservancy. Recently, she served as the deputy secretary and chief operating officer of the U.S. Department of the Interior and acting secretary of the Interior in 2006 during the George W. Bush administration. She contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

In 1995, our world was a very different place. The global population was a little more than 5.6 billion people, retailer Amazon had just opened its virtual doors on the Internet, the DVD was introduced and the first UNFCCC Conference of Parties (COP1) took place in Berlin, Germany, garnering the attention of a small set of scientists and policymakers. 

That first COP meeting might have found you reading an opinion piece like this one in a newspaper, yet today the odds are good that you are reading it on a smartphone, tablet or laptop. Perhaps you're reading this in pieces over social media — if so, I hope you share and Like it. In 1995, Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin met for the first time at Stanford University. Today, Google provides instant access to just about everything on Earth, from the raw climate data produced by scientists to the policy commitments countries make to each other and their citizens.   

Today, Earth's population stands at more than 7 billion . Real-time data are gathered via drone, satellite and even cellphones, and can be made available to anyone with a smartphone or an Internet connection. The science of climate change is well-understood, and we are living with its impacts today — record drought and heat, and rising seas and storm frequency and intensity. These are no longer tomorrow's problems. As we approach COP21, the eyes of the entire world are watching Paris for a possible agreement and leadership for a better future. 

New technology and science are helping us understand the urgency of climate change . We also expect that technology will help us improve the transparency and accountability of government commitments to address carbon emissions. Those collected commitments highlight how countries are working together to steer the planet toward a low-carbon future. In Paris, we are looking for government leaders to come to an ambitious agreement with an eye toward escalating their commitments over time.

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