The U.N. Climate Change Conference in Paris presents a critical opportunity for parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to strengthen the global response to climate change. In this brief, the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions outlines essential elements of a successful outcome in Paris. This vision of the Paris outcome draws on C2ES’s Toward 2015 dialogue, a series of in-depth consultations among senior climate negotiators from two dozen countries.