Merkel urges US Congress to back climate change targets

German Chancellor Angela Merkel made an impassioned plea to the US Congress today to back binding international climate change targets, evoking the spirit that saw the Berlin Wall torn down.

Becoming the first German leader to address a joint session of the House of Representatives and the Senate in 50 years, Mrs Merkel rallied against the “walls of short-sighted self-interest” as she urged the US to fall in line with Europe over global warming.