A December deal can only be a start in climate fight

EVEN without the help of the haze, our thoughts this year should be on man-made climate change. After all, about 200 nations will soon meet in Paris to broker the first-ever global treaty on controlling greenhouse gas emissions. With just one week of official talks ahead of the December conclave, optimism about reaching a deal is high - certainly better than it was in the run-up to the failed Copenhagen conference in 2009.

But even with a considerable mood shift since and much high-profile advocacy lately, all components of a global treaty are not yet in place.

Negotiating a comprehensive, legally binding and equitable treaty had never been easy. The issue involves huge costs and ethics. It means nations must commit to a long-term goal, ambitious mitigation, strong accounting rules and transparent transition to a new world economic order. Even the bottom-up approach where nations are free to set action is not making nations deliver what is expected of them.