Paris climate talks need an agreement that is good enough to tip the world decisively towards rapid decarbonisation.

The twenty-first meeting of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 21) takes place in Paris 30 November to 11 December. Everyone hopes for decisive action to avoid dangerous climate change, but a 'perfect' agreement might not be essential after all.

Success at the upcoming climate talks will rather depend on a recognition by the world's nations that incremental change will not do the job, writes Centre Director Johan Rockström in a column in Nature.

"The threshold for success in Paris should not be at the level of 'resolving the climate problem' through incremental change, but rather 'the assurance that the world is serious about a transformation'. We need an agreement that is good enough to tip the world decisively towards rapid decarbonisation."

Stockholm Resilience Centre will participate in a series of events in Paris during COP21, including:

30 Nov – 11 Dec: Booth at Le Bourget
The centre will share a booth with Future Earth, ICSU and ISSC in the blue zone at Le Bourget, the main conference venue.

4-5 Dec: Anthronaut experience, Virtual Reality hackathon
Organized together with ICSU and Future Earth.

5 Dec: High Level Meeting on Climate Action (Action Day), Lima-Paris Action Agenda
Centre director Johan Rockström will give a talk during this official high-level event on 5 December, in Le Bourget.

5 Dec: Leading by doing: Taking on the Challenge to become Fossil-free
Johan Rockström gives a talk as The Swedish Government's initiative Fossil-free Sweden is presented

6 Dec (lunch session): Exploring business, policy, and science connections: Linking multifunctional landscapes and seascapes to food, nutrition and the environment
Johan Rockström will give a talk at the event organized by EAT, Bioversity, CIFOR and CIAT.

7 Dec: Start of ”Hållbar” at Swedish Institute
Stockholm Resilience Centre will organize a touch screen to be on display at the Swedish Institute during their event series Håll-bar. The touch screen will display key messages from the research at the centre concerning for example resilience, tipping points and Planetary Boundaries

8-9 Dec: International New York Times – Energy for tomorrow conference
Johan Rockström participates in after-lunch discussion on 8 Dec, 13:40-14:15 "Planetary budgets and technological advancements: discussion with climate leaders – challenges and opportunities" in Salles des Séances, hosted by Ericsson in collaboration with SRC.

11 Dec, 12-14: The Safe Operating Space of Our Planet. A call to action through the Earth Statement
Johan Rockström gives a talk on the Planetary Boundaries framework and the Earth Statement. Hosted by Cicero in Le Bourget Cicero pavilion