COP 20 of UNFCCC is taking place from December 1­ to 12 in Lima, Peru. Expectations are high that this year’s Climate Summit will make significant inroads to bring the Parties to agree on a draft text to be negotiated and agreed on in Paris in 2015, and which will inform the international community’s response to the increasing urgency for climate action. More pressure than ever before rests on this COP ending with a meaningful outcome, and the host government Peru stressed this message at the opening of COP 20 in saying that ‘success in Lima will determine success in Paris.’ But what is really at stake here? What does a ‘successful outcome’ actually mean for the different actors in this intergovernmental process?