One takeaway from Lima has been that India and China were on the same page on most of the issues. This is particularly reassuring because China has just signed a climate deal with the US and in terms of the pact China’s emissions are supposed to peak by 2030. India has set itself no such target so far. Before the Paris meet at the end of 2015, all the countries are supposed to present their ‘intended nationally-defined contributions’, which are a set of binding targets they must set for themselves. These are as relevant as they could be problematic one year later. Remember the US did not sign the Kyoto Protocol in 1997? And one way to institutionalise climate change talks is to hold them in the way of WTO rounds of negotiations. The UN Framework for Climate Change Convention must examine the gains arising out of the Montreal and Kyoto Protocols.

Even at the cost of repetition, it should be stressed that climate change knows no boundaries. Hence all countries should think beyond themselves and long-term. Changes in weather patterns that affect one country today might affect another later. For example, an interesting feature in Lima was that learning to live with an extent of climate change was the concern of developing countries. But to what extent? The cost that looks small now may not be so 30 years later. And there is no point being sheepish now on the question of the growth vs environment debate. For the greater good of humanity, all must be prepared to make sacrifices.