Obama to attend Copenhagen

26 November 2009

US President Barack Obama has committed to attending the UN Copenhagen climate talks in December.

Obama is predicted to pledge 2020 emissions cuts of 17 per cent below levels in 2005 at the conference, which is four per cent below 1990 levels, and 83 per cent below 2005 levels by 2050, reports say. By comparison the European Union (EU) has pledged 20 per cent cuts from 1990 levels by 2020.

The Copenhagen climate conference will be held on 9 December, a day before Obama is due to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

President of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, Eileen Claussen, said, ‘President Obama’s decision to attend the Copenhagen climate summit is an important statement of his deep personal commitment to addressing this issue. It signals his determination both to enact strong US energy and climate legislation and to secure a comprehensive international agreement ensuring that other countries do their part as well.

‘In announcing a provisional 2020 emissions target, the White House is making a strong and credible offer consistent with the emerging bipartisan consensus in Congress. However, in putting numbers on the table in Copenhagen, the US must be very clear about what is needed in a final agreement next year in order for this target to become binding,’ she added.

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Tags: policy

This story was published on Thursday, November 26th, 2009 at 10:28 am and is filed under Features, North America, energy efficiency, policy. You can follow any responses to article entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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