The nations of the world are moving forward on deciding what to do about human impact on the climate. Two hundred countries will send representatives to Lima, Peru, next week to join talks on the new United Nations climate treaty. The gathering is a warm-up to the Paris talks next year, when nations will work toward a binding agreement in the interest of managing climate change.

According to Jennifer Morgan, global director of the climate program at the World Resources Institute, the UN treaty would be “a global agreement for decades to come that would bring countries back to the table to strengthen their commitment to solving the problem.”

This proposed treaty is intended to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which ended two years ago.

Experts say that climate-changing emissions from the burning of fossil fuels is to blame for a predicted world-wide temperature increase of two degrees Celsius, compared with pre-industrialization temperatures. Scientists caution that this temperature increase will cause extreme weather and a higher sea level.

The focus of the Lima talks is on bringing fossil fuel emissions under control. For the first time, China is stepping up with a timetable for changing its actions to bring a curtailing of emissions as soon as 2030.

“It’s not like they are going to wait 16 years,” said Morgan. “They actually have to shut down coal-fired power plants. They have to build up renewable energy. They have to be much more efficient in order to turn that curve.”

Morgan stressed that countries need to begin closing the gap between what countries pledge to do and what they really need to do to reduce emissions. She believes that only a binding global treaty can exert the necessary pressure on individual nations to make meaningful reductions in their emissions before its too late.