All hopes rest on Katowice to deliver on climate pledge

On a staid note, that's how the UN Climate Change Conference ended in Bonn, Germany, over the weekend, framing just the skeleton of the rulebook of the 2015 Paris Agreement and leaving it to the 2018 climate conference in Poland to put flesh and muscles on it.

Many believe the Paris climate accord, if implemented to the letter, will keep the rise of global temperatures to below 2 degrees Celsius by the end of this century. But contrary to popular belief, the Paris pact is important not because of its science, but because of its timing and framework. The targets each country agreed to keep the global temperature rise to 2 C were not binding. And since the global temperature will rise to 3 C - at the least - even if all the countries meet their targets, the world needed the Paris Agreement.

Moreover, as the Paris pact cannot be implemented without a rulebook, which in turn has to be completed by 2018, world leaders have no choice but to get their acts together to finalize it by next year's climate conference. And while finalizing the rulebook, the negotiators must keep the needs of the vulnerable countries in mind, and ensure the rich nations pay their promised share of funds and transfer the necessary technologies to poorer countries to help them adapt to and combat climate change.