The outcome of the 2016 Paris Conference on climate change must be seen in the context of the long-haul effort over 25 years, starting with the UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.

Bo Kjellen was chief negotiator for the Swedish Ministry of Environment from 1990 and head of the Swedish delegation through the preparations for the Rio Conference, the Conference itself, and to the UNFCCC negotiations thereafter, until October 2001. As an inside observer of the climate negotiations from the beginning, he offers his observations on the significance of the Paris Agreement in the light of history, and on possible outcomes in coming decades.