Thursday, November 26, 2009
PRESIDENT Barack Obama will go to Copenhagen next month, a White House official said yesterday, to participate in a long-anticipated, high-stakes global climate summit.
The president will attend the summit on December 9 before heading to Oslo to accept the Nobel Peace Prize, the official said. Obama’s attendance had been in question until now.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because a formal announcement had not been made.
The conference had originally been intended to produce a new global climate change treaty on limiting emissions of greenhouse gases that would replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.
However, hopes for a legally binding agreement have dimmed lately, with leaders saying the summit is more likely to produce a template for future action to cut emissions blamed for global warming.
While Obama tried to quell expectations during his eight-day trip to Asia earlier this month, he also called on world leaders to come to an agreement that has "immediate operational effect" and is not just a political declaration.
Administration officials said earlier this week that the US will present a target for reducing carbon dioxide emissions at the summit.
The development came as the European Union urged the United States and China to deliver greenhouse gas emissions targets at the summit, saying their delays were hindering global efforts to curb climate change.
The Obama administration has indicated for nearly a year that it would eventually come up with specific targets for quick reductions in pollution that causes global warming, as part of international negotiations. Those targets will soon be made public, officials said.
This will be Obama’s second trip to Denmark this year. He paid a short visit to Copenhagen on October 2 to make a pitch to stage the 2016 Olympic Games in Chicago during a meeting of the International Olympic Committee.
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