Game theory suggests current climate negotiations won’t avert catastrophe

Climate treaty negotiators might be wise to have a conversation with a game theorist.

So far, negotiators’ promises to reduce greenhouse gas production have been paltry and results paltrier, as both emissions and global temperatures have risen. A new game theoretic analysis published in the Oct. 23 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences both pinpoints why negotiations have accomplished so little and suggests how the parties might achieve better results.