In a new interview, the executive secretary of the UN Framework on Climate Change Convention, Yvo de Boer, tells CFR.org’s Toni Johnson that “intelligent financial engineering” is the key to getting agreement between developed and developing worlds on limiting carbon emissions.

In other comments, not included in the online interview, de Boer has the following to say about the U.S. presidential candidates and climate change:

First of all, what I find very encouraging is that all three of the presidential candidates have climate change high on their agenda and show ambition that they want to take this topic forward. What I also find encouraging is that there are a lot of legislative proposals before the U.S. Senate and Congress at the moment that point in the direction of a cap-and-trade regime, which would be ideally suited to a broader international cooperation.

We’re sort of in the rare comfortable position that whoever wins the presidential election in the United States will deliver a stronger position on climate change.