"This kind of flexible, evolving legal agreement cannot guarantee that we meet a 2 degree goal, but insisting on a structure that would guarantee such a goal will only lead to deadlock," he said.
"My point in the speech was that insisting on an approach that would purport to guarantee such a goal - essentially by dividing up carbon rights to the atmosphere - will only lead to stalemate given the very different views countries would have on how such apportionment should be made.
Kris Boyd peppered Lee Hollis's goal with fierce shots, but neither he nor his team-mates could find the goal to guarantee a point.
Last year, the shop ridiculed the industry obsession with the word "viral" by creating a faux service called "Buyral"—the goal being to guarantee a video goes viral by eliminating the need for actual viewers.
There is still a chance for an offensive recovery, but a block nonetheless halts action in its tracks, virtually guarantees a missed field goal and puts the defense in a good position to recover the ball.
Seeing Matt Le Tissier, James Beattie or Rickie Lambert step up amounted to a guarantee of a goal.
Paul Parry, Kevin McNaughton and Joe Ledley scored the goals that guaranteed a top-half finish for Dave Jones' team.
So as far as there is a general consensus about these things, when Mr Stern advocates a negotiating process that "cannot guarantee" a 2C goal, one way of seeing that is as an acknowledgement that governments shouldn't aim to fulfil the basic objective of the UN climate convention; which is obviously political dynamite.
The transfer fee surely represents a risk for Cardiff but, when taking into account the going rate for a Premier League forward that may guarantee 10 goals a season, paying £8.5m for a young international striker with a potentially significant sell-on value may prove very wise business by the newly-promoted side.
"Give them two weeks, and I guarantee they have a goal".
