November 26, 2009
Obama to Go to Copenhagen With Pledge of Emissions Cuts
By JOHN M. BRODER
WASHINGTON — President Obama is pledging a provisional target for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, the first time in more than a decade that an American administration has offered even a tentative promise to reduce production of climate-altering gases, the White House announced Wednesday.
At the international climate meetings in Copenhagen next month, Mr. Obama will tell the delegates that the United States intends to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions “in the range of” 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050, officials said.
The figures reflect targets specified by legislation that passed the House in June but is stalled in the Senate. Congress has never enacted legislation that includes firm emissions limits or ratified an international global warming agreement with binding targets.
Mea culpa for such a short diary, but this seems rather worthy of an extended discussion and wanted to post before I headed to the kitchen to continue preparations for tomorrow.
Mr. Obama will travel to the United Nations talks to deliver the promise in hopes of spurring significant progress there. He will appear Dec. 9, near the beginning of the 12-day session, on his way to accept the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on Dec. 10, officials said.
By making the pledge in an international forum, Mr. Obama is laying a bet that Congress will complete action on a climate bill next year and will be prepared to ratify an international agreement based on the commitment.
So, he is going and he is evidently going to be specific, and he is clearly out in front of legislation on this one.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
Updated: On Thanksgiving Day the Chinese announced:
BEIJING — The Chinese government announced Thursday that it had set a target to slow the growth of its greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, a day after the Obama administration set a provisional target for reducing United States emissions.
And, India notices:
China's climate pledge a 'wake up call': India
(AFP) – 12 hours ago
NEW DELHI — India's Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said in an interview published Friday that China's decision to unveil a carbon emissions target had put pressure on India to follow suit.
"China has given a wake-up call to India," the minister told the Hindustan Times daily. "We've to think hard about our climate strategy now and look for flexibility, as I've been saying for the past two months, to avoid being isolated at Copenhagen.
The details are sparse and, when made explicit, are likely to be less than required, BUT President Obama's willingness to participate and push is beginning to have the essential first result - make it impossible to avoid the conversation and the ever expanding scrutiny of all to the fact that we may already have an out-of-control climatic catastrophe on the horizon and we certainly will have one if we don't radically alter human energy source and consumption behavior.