Surprisingly, a Voluntary Climate Treaty Could Actually Work

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FEB. 13, 2015

Economic View

If history is a guide, whether this treaty’s goals are met will depend on the extent to which countries make mitigation of climate change a domestic priority. This means that even after the hard work of negotiating the Paris treaty is completed, the hardest work will still be in front of us, wherever we live.

MICHAEL GREENSTONE, the Milton Friedman professor of economics at the University of Chicago, runs the Energy Policy Institute there. He was the chief economist of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers from 2009 to 2010.

A version of this article appears in print on February 15, 2015, on page BU7 of the New York edition with the headline: A Voluntary, and Effective, Climate Treaty. Order Reprints| Today’s Paper|Subscribe

The New York Times