GLOBAL CLIMATE DEBATE

Obama to Attend Copenhagen Summit

President Obama will travel to Copenhagen for next month's global climate conference to propose emissions cuts similar to those in climate legislation on Capitol Hill.

The White House says the president will be in Copenhagen on Dec. 9 before heading to Oslo to accept the Nobel Peace Prize. He'll be joined by several administration officials, including Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson Council on Environmental Quality Chairman Nancy Sutley and Assistant for Energy and Climate Change Carol Browner.

At least 65 other world leaders will also be in Copenhagen, looking to set the framework for a new global warming treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

EMISSIONS TARGETS

The White House also announced that Obama is prepared to propose a U.S. emissions reduction target "in the range of 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and ultimately in line with final U.S. energy and climate legislation."

The president has set longer-term goals of a 30 percent reduction below 2005 levels in 2025, a 42 percent reduction in 2030 and an 83 percent reduction by 2050. 

'MEANINGFUL AGREEMENT'

A statement from the White House says the president is "eager to work with the international community to drive progress toward a comprehensive and operational Copenhagen accord."

The statement says Obama is optimistic about a "meaningful agreement in Copenhagen" based on his work on climate change over the past 10 months, citing the Major Economies Forum, the G20, bilateral discussions and multilateral consultations with leaders in China and India.

POSITIVE REACTION

Yvo de Boer, U.N. climate treaty chief, told reporters in Bonn today, "I think it's critical that President Obama attend the climate change summit in Copenhagen. The world is very much looking to the United States to come forward with an emission reduction target and contribute to financial support to help developing countries."

The World Wildlife Fund’s Climate Program Director, Keya Chatterjee, welcomed the news.

“We are pleased that President Obama will be in Copenhagen during the early part of the climate summit," she said. "It's important that his words during this important moment convey that the United States intends to make climate change a legislative priority, not simply a rhetorical one."

INHOFE SKEPTICAL

But sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., the ranking Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, was skeptical of the president's motives.

"I suspect President Obama is making the trip to Copenhagen in order to ‘save' the climate conference," said Inhofe, who opposes the most recently proposed Senate climate bill. "Yet no amount of lofty rhetoric or promises of future commitments can save it. This is due in large part to the fact cap-and-trade legislation in the Senate is dying on the vine, and, as important, are recent revelations of leading climate scientists who appear to have manufactured the climate ‘consensus' casting doubt over the entire global warming enterprise."

To view the complete release from the White House click HERE.

• Login or register to post comments