Obama to Offer 17% Emissions-Cut Goal in Copenhagen
Nov. 25 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama will attendclimate-change talks in Copenhagen next month, offering anemissions-cut goal of about 17 percent by 2020 after legislationto reduce greenhouse gases stalled in Congress.
The president will travel to the Danish capital on Dec. 9during the first week of negotiations for a new treaty toreplace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012, White Housespokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters today. Obama will thenaccept the Nobel Peace prize in nearby Oslo on Dec. 10.
Obama, who campaigned on a pledge to tackle climate change,has been under pressure to attend the meeting and offer for thefirst time a 2020 reduction target. The U.S. has faced criticismfor failing to enact legislation to limit heat-trappingpollution and create an emissions-trading market. The U.S. isthe biggest greenhouse-gas producer among developed nations.
“The president going to Copenhagen will give positivemomentum to the negotiations,” Michael Froman, Obama’s deputynational security adviser for international economics, toldreporters today. “We think it will enhance the prospects forsuccess.”
Obama’s attendance is “critical,” Yvo de Boer, executivesecretary of the UN Framework Convention of Climate Change,which runs the talks, said today in a Webcast from Bonn.
Negotiations for a new global climate treaty are deadlockedas industrialized nations and developing countries failed toagree on issues such as emissions-reduction targets and how muchfinancial help rich nations should provide to poor onesgrappling with the effects of climate change.
‘Looking to the U.S.’
“The world is very much looking to the U.S. to come upwith an emissions reduction target” as well as financial aid tohelp developing countries cut emissions and adapt to globalwarming, de Boer said today.
The White House’s proposed emissions cut marks the firsttime the U.S. has offered a 2020 target in the internationalnegotiations. The reduction will be “in the range of 17percent,” Carol Browner, Obama’s top adviser on energy and theenvironment, said today.
The proposal is in line with pending legislation in theHouse and the Senate. A bill passed by the House in June callsfor a 17 percent reduction while a measure proposed in theSenate calls for a cut of 20 percent.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, saidlast week that his chamber won’t take up legislation until“sometime in the spring.”
‘Global Game-Changer’
Without a completed bill from the Senate, which would haveto ratify an international climate treaty by a two-thirdsmajority, Obama’s negotiators are left without firm guidelinesfrom Congress.
Obama’s decision to go to Copenhagen “could be one hell ofa global game-changer,” Senator John Kerry, a MassachusettsDemocrat who has sought a bipartisan compromise on the Senateclimate bill, said in a statement.
The president’s plans were also welcomed by companies, suchas DuPont Co., that are pushing for a cap on U.S. carbon-dioxidepollution that scientists blame for climate change.
It “sends a message that addressing climate and energychallenges are priorities for the U.S.,” Michael Parr, managerof government affairs for Wilmington, Delaware-based DuPont, thethird-biggest U.S. chemical maker, said in a statement.
“Obama has a great story to tell,” James Roger, chiefexecutive officer of Duke Energy Corp., said in an interviewlast week, citing House passage of climate legislation and theadoption of greenhouse-gas standards for vehicles. Duke ownselectric utilities in the U.S. Southeast and Midwest.
‘Weak and Unfair’
Dissenting from the praise, Friends of the Earth saidObama’s administration has “pushed for a weak and unfair”climate accord.
“The president needs to do more than just show up,” ErichPica, president of the environmental group, said in a statement.“He must ensure that the U.S. promotes real solutions.”
China and India have said industrialized countries must bewilling to cut their carbon output 40 percent by 2020 from 1990levels if they expect poorer nations to agree to long-termreduction goals.
The Obama administration hopes other major economies will“put forth ambitious actions of their own,” Browner said.
Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen has invited theheads of almost 200 countries to the Danish capital for the lasttwo days of the Dec. 7-18 meeting. So far, at least 65 leadershave said they will attend. They include German ChancellorAngela Merkel, U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown and JapanesePrime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.
Leaders including Obama have said that a binding accordfor reducing greenhouse gases isn’t expected in Copenhagen. TheUN had previously said the meeting would mark the deadline forcompleting a treaty.
Instead, leaders are now calling for a “meaningful”political agreement as a framework for a final accord to replaceKyoto. Negotiations are expected to continue next year.
To contact the reporters on this story:Kim Chipman in Washington at kchipman@bloomberg.net;To contact the reporter on this story:Hans Nichols in Washington at hnichols2@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: November 25, 2009 16:36 ESTSource: Bloomberg
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