This is exchanges at Goldman Sachs where people from our firm share their insights on developments currently shaping markets, industries, and the global economy.

I'm Jake Seeward, Global Head of Corporate Communications here at the firm.

The United Nations Climate Change Conference brought delegates from more than 190 countries

and thousands of other stakeholders to Paris to work toward a climate change solution.

Kyung A Park, head of the Environmental Markets Group at Goldman Sachs, represented the firm at the conference.

She's here to discuss some of the key takeaways from that event and what she's focused on here

in her work at Goldman Sachs.

Kyung Ah, welcome to the program. Thank you, Jake.

There's been some skepticism in the past about whether these broad global climate conferences

actually make any difference, but it does seem as though there's some real urgency from participants this time around.

We saw big substantial climate change commitments, not just at the national level, but also

from some prominent global companies and individual philanthropists.

How has the dialogue around climate change evolved over the years to get to this point and

why can we hope that this time is better and different.

So let me actually go back further in history and give some context for where we are today.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change actually dates back to 1992 in Rio, the Earth Summit. The

Earth Summit when the World Agreed that we actually need to address

the greenhouse gas emissions and the most damaging effects of climate change.

That resulted in the 1997 Kilmett the most damaging effects of climate change.

That resulted in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol that mandatory

required developed nations, the Annex 1 countries, to actually reduce their

green-esque gas emissions, but noticeably did not include the developing countries who account for the vast majority of the growth in green gas emissions.

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