As world leaders deal with climate change, aim to lift more people out of poverty, and make the world a more sustainable, prosperous place in 2015, here are the top Stories to Watch, according to WRI’s experts and as presented by WRI President and CEO Andrew Steer on January 8.

1) Global Climate Deal

December 2015 is the target date for a worldwide agreement that will unite all countries in an ambitious response to climate change. But what kind of agreement will it be?

“It won’t be your old grandfather’s plain-vanilla, textbook climate deal. It’s going to be much more interesting than that,” Steer told a packed briefing at the National Press Club in Washington. Following the hottest year on record, 2015 begins with momentum to limit greenhouse gases, as 38 countries and 23 cities, states and provinces now have a price on carbon dioxide emissions. With emissions now higher than at any point in history, keeping the planet cool enough to avoid the worst consequences of climate change is possible only with rapidly reduced emissions and big changes in the energy mix.

The United States, the European Union and China, which together account for half of all greenhouse gas emissions, have pledged to do more, but that may not be enough. All nations are expected to make their emissions-cutting commitments known in the first half of the year, and these pledges will send important signals about the ambition of the final agreement to be reached in December. The United States can lead on this issue, and has proposed to cut its emissions by 26 to 28 percent from 2005 levels by 2025. But whether this reduction can happen will largely depend on rules on power plant emissions to be released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. How strong will the EPA’s final standards be? Will leaders rise to the climate challenge this year?

For the complete article, please see World Resources Institute.