COP21: This Time, It’s Different

 “This time it’s different.”

That’s a theme I am hearing quite a lot here in Paris in the midst of the COP 21 climate change conference. There is a sense that, despite this being yet another international meeting to discuss how we can tackle the common challenge of global climate change, this time it will be different. This time we will make meaningful progress. We’ve heard that before. So why is “this time” different?

This time, we’re seeing a spirit of collaboration like never before. The business community is on the ground in concert with civil society and government with the understanding that we must work together toward a common solution.

This time, we are seeing the understanding that if COP 21 is to succeed in its goals to find a solution to climate change, innovation and technology are a necessary part of the equation.

This time, they are already moving past the question of what needs to be done and are actually working on how to do it together.

Business and government understand that technology will play a critical role in addressing these issues at scale. For our part, we set a goal to enable carbon savings 10 times the footprint of our operations by 2025, by enhancing the efficiency of our network and delivering sustainable customer solutions. We know that collaboration will be the key to success – working together with industry peers, customers, cities and civil society – to create shared value orders of magnitude higher than has been achieved before.

This time, the spirit in Paris is one of cautious optimism; the obstacles are clear but we have line of sight to the solutions. At AT&T we will continue to work with others and use the power of our network to build a better tomorrow.