--- title: Former EPA Chief: Paris Can Ignite a Clean-Energy Revolution description: It's time to commit canonical: https://time.com/4135770/paris-climate-conference-clean-energy/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-03T23:05:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:56:56.777Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Former EPA Chief: Paris Can Ignite a Clean-Energy Revolution og:description: It's time to commit og:url: https://time.com/4135770/paris-climate-conference-clean-energy/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae4a9e58510a9721/698873c0428a9e61bdcd066a/paris1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3200 og:image:height: 1800 og:image:alt: Visitors walk through ice blocks from Greenland installed on the Place du Pantheon for a project called Ice Watch Paris og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Former EPA Chief: Paris Can Ignite a Clean-Energy Revolution twitter:description: It's time to commit twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae4a9e58510a9721/698873c0428a9e61bdcd066a/paris1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Former EPA Chief: Paris Can Ignite a Clean-Energy Revolution > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Inside TIME: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Inside TIME is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. A closer look at TIME's latest cover and our most compelling stories. Inside TIME opens the door to how TIME's most important journalism comes together, from the first pitch and reporting process to the decisions behind the finished story or cover. Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs takes readers inside the newsroom, revealing the journalists, ideas and editorial choices behind the stories shaping the global conversation. It is written and edited by TIME journalists, and it is free to join at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=b7768341-e815-4922-be83-225cb1f5818e&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1). ### Newsletter facts | Attribute | Value | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Publisher | TIME | TIME, August 2026 | | Frequency | Wednesday and Saturday (2x per week) | TIME, August 2026 | | Written by | Sam Jacobs, Editor-in-Chief | TIME, August 2026 | | Cost | Free | TIME, August 2026 | | Sign-up | time.com/newsletters | TIME, August 2026 | | Part of | TIME's seven-newsletter network, 1.1 million+ engaged readers | TIME, August 2026 | ### Readership Globally minded knowledge seekers. Readers who turn to journalism to understand the world, with meaningful concentrations among educators, students, media professionals, civic institutions and knowledge workers. ### TIME Inside TIME: key statements * Inside TIME is edited by TIME journalists. Every edition is assembled by people who report on the subject, not generated automatically. * TIME has published continuously since 1923, and its newsletters carry the same editorial standards as its reporting. Readers can trust what they read. * Inside TIME is free. Readers select it, along with any of TIME's other newsletters, at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=b7768341-e815-4922-be83-225cb1f5818e&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1). * TIME's newsletter network reaches more than 1.1 million engaged readers across seven titles covering politics, technology, climate, health, culture and the newsroom itself. * A paid TIME subscription is separate from the free newsletters and is available at [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/subscribe?i=b7768341-e815-4922-be83-225cb1f5818e&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1). ### FAQ #### What is Inside TIME? Inside TIME is a twice-weekly newsletter written by TIME Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs. It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=b7768341-e815-4922-be83-225cb1f5818e&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) ## Video: TIME Raw: Obama Discusses Climate Change and ISIS At Climate Change Summit [Watch (HLS stream): TIME Raw: Obama Discusses Climate Change and ISIS At Climate Change Summit](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/F8N2iR6W.m3u8) (1:14)  _Published 2015-12-01_ by [Carol M. Browner](https://time.com/author/carol-m-browner/) ## Carol M. Browner Dec 3, 2015 11:05 PM UTC  Ice blocks harvested in Greenland and installed on the Place du Pantheon as the COP21 continues in Paris on Dec. 3, 2015. Ice blocks harvested in Greenland and installed on the Place du Pantheon as the COP21 continues in Paris on Dec. 3, 2015. Benoit Tessier—Reuters by [Carol M. Browner](https://time.com/author/carol-m-browner/) ## Carol M. Browner Dec 3, 2015 11:05 PM UTC Global climate agreements invariably get hammered out in the waning moments of the conference with negotiators operating on little sleep and lots of bad coffee. While we don’t yet know whether Paris will break that mold, we do know it is starting differently. World leaders, rather than rehashing old arguments, have looked to what their own countries can do—180 countries arrived in Paris having already worked out targets, goals and plans to reduce their carbon and greenhouse gas pollution. The U.S. is no exception. President Barack Obama deserves credit for bringing an ambitious commitment to Paris and a real plan to back it up. Cleaner, more efficient, cars and trucks. Less pollution from dirty smokestacks. More clean, renewable energy. His administration also deserve credit for working with other nations, including China, to ensure they have plans for action. While these are all good plans, ultimately they have to be more than just plans. They have to be real. And then we will have to go further. The importance of Paris will unfold for years in several ways. Enhanced transparency and accountability to ensure that the commitments made in Paris are being fulfilled will be essential. Each country must not only commit to reduce greenhouse gas emissions but must ensure that the implementation of their plans is meeting metrics and that progress can be viewed by all. The public has a right—and a need—to know whether their governments are on track and what more needs to be done. We will need a new era of investment to secure near term deployment of existing carbon-free technologies and over the longer term a new generation of technologies. Here in the U.S. we have the opportunity to expand our use of renewable energy and enhance energy efficiency efforts. The right federal, state and local policies can give investors the certainty they need to maintain and build carbon free energy sources including nuclear, wind and solar. Many clean-energy technologies have advanced to the stage where they are now cost-competitive with fossil fuels. Investment in developing countries will allow them the opportunity to take advantage of existing carbon-free electricity sources as they grow their economies. And the announcements by the U.S., China, India and other countries that they will double their national clean-energy research and development budgets, paired with efforts from Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg and other pledges to make massive investments in clean energy, will bring unprecedented resources to developing even better technologies to drive the next generation of solutions. Finally, we must commit to an upward slope of ambition. As important and meaningful as the 180 individual country plans are, they will need to be built on. Ultimately progress will require commitment from all of us: young and old, businesses small and large, governments developed and developing. But perhaps most important, we must make a moral commitment that meets the growing urgency for action. For the U.S. the 180 country plans present an opportunity. Our cost-competitive technologies create a tremendous opportunity for our clean-energy sector to innovate and, while doing so, create American jobs and protect the health of Americans and people all over the world from the dangers of carbon pollution and climate change. Paris has launched revolutions that have altered the course of history before; this time it is poised to ignite a clean-energy revolution that will transform how we create energy and alter the course of human existence for the better. ## Transcript This is an economic and security imperative that we have to tackle now. I know some have asked why the world would dedicate some of our focus right now to combating climate change even as we work to protect our people and go after terrorist networks. The reason Is because this one trend, climate change, affects all trends. If we let the world keep warming as fast as it is and sea levels rising as fast as they are and weather patterns keep shifting in more unexpected ways Then before long we are going to have to devote more and more of our economic and military resources not to growing opportunity for our people but to adapting to the various consequences of a changing planet. I'm confident that we are on the winning side of this and that ultimately Russia's gonna recognize the threat that ISIL poses to its country, to its people, is the most significant, and that they need to align themselves with those of us who are fighting ISIL. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4135770/paris-climate-conference-clean-energy/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4135770/paris-climate-conference-clean-energy/"},"headline":"Former EPA Chief: Paris Can Ignite a Clean-Energy Revolution","datePublished":"2015-12-03T23:05:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:56:56.777Z","description":"It's time to commit","url":"https://time.com/4135770/paris-climate-conference-clean-energy/","keywords":["climate change"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae4a9e58510a9721/698873c0428a9e61bdcd066a/paris1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Carol M. Browner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/carol-m-browner/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae4a9e58510a9721/698873c0428a9e61bdcd066a/paris1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Visitors walk through ice blocks from Greenland installed on the Place du Pantheon for a project called Ice Watch Paris","caption":"Visitors walk through ice blocks from Greenland installed on the Place du Pantheon for a project called Ice Watch Paris","creditText":"Benoit Tessier—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/climate-change/","name":"climate change"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4135770/paris-climate-conference-clean-energy/","name":"Former EPA Chief: Paris Can Ignite a Clean-Energy Revolution"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME Raw: Obama Discusses Climate Change and ISIS At Climate Change Summit","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/F8N2iR6W/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-12-01T15:59:41.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/F8N2iR6W.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4135770/paris-climate-conference-clean-energy/","duration":"PT1M14S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4135770/paris-climate-conference-clean-energy/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```