Give millennials a seat at climate talks as a symbolic new country | Letters

Nasa released data earlier this year showing that global surface temperatures across land and ocean in February were a whopping 1.35C warmer than the average temperature for that same month from 1951 to 1980. As the COP22 comes to a close, it's time we think hard, and think creatively, about the way forward and start preparing for new initiatives. Building on the impressive success of COP21 in Paris, many political and business leaders as well as representatives of civil society seem eager to engage. That is a good thing, but it is not enough.

For better and, increasingly, for worse, our global system of governance rests overwhelmingly on territorial nation-states. In this system, each country's government represents its own national interest. No one represents humanity as a whole. Such devotion to narrow interests leads to a host of profound problems, well known to economists and students of human behaviour. In various contexts they are known as "the tragedy of the commons", "the prisoner's dilemma", "exporting externalities", and "free riding". When asked to act for the common good, nation-states are predisposed to echo Cain's notorious response: "Am I my brother's keeper?"