What are the challenges for global climate policy in the years to come? Hermann E. Ott has written a short and comprehensive paper as an input for the 2007 Forum of the Swedish Tällberg Foundation. It makes an attempt to provide a comprehensive account of the state of the problem in factual and diplomatic terms, outlines three possible scenarios post-2012, analyses a range of proposals for the future of the climate regime and proposes three essential building blocks for trust building between South and North. Its premise is the proposition that a solution to the climate problem will only be possible if industrialised countries, first, recognise their responsibility through massive efforts to reduce emissions and, second, engage in serious and substantial financial (and other) support for reducing emissions in the emerging economies and for adaptation to the consequences of climate change in the poorer developing countries.