More than 190 countries agreed last December to take steps to reduce greenhouse gases, finance adaptation to climate change in developing countries and limit temperature increases to below 2 degrees C.  While many observers hail the agreement as the first serious commitment to limiting the harm from climate change, others decry it as insufficient to prevent catastrophic damage.

UCLA School of Law students and Anderson students joined UCLA Anderson’s Center for Global Management and UCLA School of Law’s Lowell Milken Institute for Business Law and Policy for a discussion over dinner where Professor Ann Carlson -- who attended the Paris talks with a delegation of seven UCLA law students -- explained the Paris Agreement and offered her views on its overall effectiveness. Professor Carlson is the Shirley Shapiro Professor of Environmental Law; Faculty Co-Director, Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.