Addressing climate change is mostly about transitioning to a post-petroleum clean energy system.
That said, the meeting has displayed a heightened sense of urgency, as negotiators tried to turn leaders’ commitments into results.
But the devil is in the details: To date, follow-through on such pledges has been abysmal, though there are promising signs this time around.
Unfortunately, efforts by some brave souls in Congress to create a carbon tax, to allow market forces to drive the process, was shot down.
goal of reducing net emissions by 50 percent by 2030, and the UN and Paris accord goals of reaching net zero emissions by 2050 and limiting temperature rise to under 2 degrees.
But the path to get there requires extraordinary transformations that are difficult to see being realized.
Thankfully, investments, research and development, and new deployments are ramping up dramatically, and it is technically possible to reach the net-zero goals by 2050.
But there is a rich menu of low-hanging fruit, things that can be done now to reduce emissions which negotiators finalizing COP26 efforts in Glasgow should pursue.
To implement the vague deforestation pledge, have the G-20 endorse a plan for nations, in public-private partnerships, to plant one billion trees by 2025.
Retrofitting buildings with net-zero technology and requiring it of all new buildings could yield quick results.
Ramping up R&D for battery storage, renewables, hydrogen and other energy technologies as well as experimenting with geo-engineering techniques to alter warming, could make a difference in the 2040-2050 timeframe.
Manning is a senior fellow of the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security and its New American Engagement Initiative at the Atlantic Council.