That comment jarred with European Union negotiators, who said that the talks must also achieve harder commitments to existing emissions [cuts] pledges, including from developing countries.
Those that argue for curbing these contracts need to acknowledge that the alternative won't be universally improved contracts with harder commitments to more hours of employment.
Yet as China's economy has slowed, the target has morphed into a hard commitment that guides and, critics argue, distorts policy decisions (see chart).
He praised the pharmaceutical industry for making a hard commitment, but added, "We might be able to get $100 billion out of them, or more".
These range from the soft commitment of simply labeling remittances as being for education, to the hard commitment of having funds directly paid to a school and the student's educational performance monitored.
We find this take-up is largely driven by a response to the ability to label remittances for education, rather than to the hard commitment feature of directly paying schools.
"We didn't achieve anything like the accuracy we would have liked but, in terms of spirit, working hard, commitment, which are the foundations of teams, that showed in abundance.
Why shouldn't the United States make a hard commitment to cut carbon before China, India and other developing nations do?
Sager's unapologetic expression of himself and his die-hard commitment to covering sports in a fun-for-the-whole-family, well-intentioned manner earned universal love from the NBA community. .
"The hard commitments are around transparency," she said.
