This story was originally published by The Atlantic and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
The United Nations climate change negotiations do not hide from acronym.
No, they sprint toward it, arms stretched, yelling “Take me!” Spend some time reading technical press coverage and you’re sure to encounter IPCC, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Stay a little longer and you’ll hit LDC (“Least Developed Countries”) and SIDS (“Small Island Developing States”). Even COP21 of the UNFCCC, the event’s name, embraces acronym: It’s the 21st Conference Of the Parties under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
For a long time, I thought ADP was the most impressive of all. ADP names the diplomatic process scheduled to end in Paris. Since it began in 2011 in Durban, South Africa, the nations gathering this week are technically titled the “Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action.”
Now, I know I was wrong — naively, ludicrously wrong. While reading a bulleted summary of the Paris climate negotiations last week, I found the following masterpiece:
United States: Supports ag... Read more
