A new climate agreement is expected to be negotiated by 2015 under the climate convention's Ad-Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP), or Durban Platform. The Platform provides a unique opportunity to plan holistically on a range of important issues including mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology development and transfer, transparency of action and support and capacity‐building. This paper draws on lessons from the concluded Bali Road Map negotiations to reflect on possible approaches to commitments in the 2015 agreement and its legal form, and how these two elements could impact the overall effectiveness of the future climate regime. The paper also examines the shift from a ëtop-downí approach to commitments, to a ëpledge and reviewí approach, and the seemingly paradoxical relationship between the nature of commitments and the effectiveness of the regime.