Preface – Climate change: what is at stake?

The second Earth Summit in Rio will open in 2012. The debate will concern the ability of the world to face its future and the participants will hope to provide answers. Climate change and its challenges will be on the agenda, and recommendations will be advanced and the aim will be to implement them quickly. More than any other area, the climate negotiations have all the ingredients that cause deep divisions in the world and highlight different ways of thinking. The extent of the work needed to change course is huge: it is nothing less than a break with a system of accumulation and techno-economic paradigm that is attached to a commitment to low-carbon societies. However, wanting to involve the poor countries in the world to save the climate now, without meeting their pressing needs for life’s essentials, can only lead to stalemate.