Obama to head to climate summit

17 Dec 2009, 5:27 pm   -   Source: AFP
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Obama's pitch will be hampered by uncertainty about the prospects for a cap-and-trade climate bill in Congress. (Getty Images)

Obama's pitch will be hampered by uncertainty about the prospects for a cap-and-trade climate bill in Congress. (Getty Images)

President Barack Obama will plunge into the thick of the Copenhagen summit, arguing he has transformed US global warming policy and seeking verification guarantees in any new climate pact.

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President Barack Obama will plunge into the thick of the Copenhagen summit, arguing he has transformed US global warming policy and seeking verification guarantees in any new climate pact.
  
Obama will fly overnight Thursday to Denmark to join other world leaders at the knife-edge climax of the push to secure a new international deal to combat global warming at an increasingly acrimonious UN conference.
  
He will spend mere hours on the ground, but aides are billing the visit as a sign that the United States, long condemned for foot dragging on climate change, is now a leader.
  
The president is also wagering valuable domestic political capital on his trip: his team will hope for no repeat of his last quick visit to Copenhagen to lobby for Chicago's Olympics bid, which ended in embarrassing failure.
  
But amid bickering and frustration in Copenhagen, hopes for progress towards a deal appeared to be hanging in the balance on Wednesday.
  
Obama had originally intended to visit Copenhagen at the start of the two week conference, before heading to Oslo last week to accept his Nobel prize, but changed his mind as pressure mounted for him to help broker a deal.
  
"President Obama is clearly committed to making a global climate deal happen," said Joe Romm of the Center for American Progress, a progressive policy institute.
  
"For eight years, we had an administration run by people who not only didn't want an agreement but they actively worked to undermine the international negotiating process."
  
Obama's pitch will be hampered however by uncertainty about the prospects for a cap-and-trade climate bill in Congress, as opposition to the measure grows amid Republican warnings it could stifle the nascent economic recovery.
  
The Obama administration has already said it will table an offer in Copenhagen to curb emissions in the world's largest economy by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020.
  
That figure is well below pledges by Europe and Japan, but US officials have made clear that they do not expect Obama, who is walking a political tightrope at home, to offer to make deeper emissions cuts.
  
Senior US officials say Obama will argue that since succeeding George W. Bush in January, he has made historic efforts to thrust the United States to the forefront of the global fight against climate change.
  
They also point to efforts under his 787 billion dollar economic stimulus plan to frame a "green" energy efficient economy, to create new jobs from renewable energy and to cut down on the waste of dwindling resources.
  
Despite increasing acrimony in Copenhagen, the White House says it still believes a worthwhile agreement can be reached to be followed by a binding ratifiable treaty next year.
  
"The president is hopeful that his presence can help... and hopeful that, again, we leave Copenhagen with a strong operational agreement even as we work toward something even stronger in the future," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Wednesday.
  
Ahead of his trip to Copenhagen, Obama telephoned Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva Wednesday to say that he would push for "a robust agreement" to include "emissions reductions, financing, and a transparent and internationally verifiable compliance regime," the White House said.
  
Aides confirmed that Obama would push for a deal that all countries could sign on to, with clear goals and verification mechanisms.
  
"What we are trying to achieve fundamentally is the result that gives us an adequate sense of clarity about what other countries are doing," a senior US official said on condition of anonymity.
  
Another official added: "What we are looking for, is for China and other developing countries to enter into a regime or system of transparency and verification."
  
Such verification guarantees are important not just for their own sake, but also to give Obama political cover as he tries to pass global warming legislation through the Senate.
  
Skeptics are arguing that China and India, with which Obama has mounted intense global warming diplomacy in recent weeks, are not committed to curbing what will be the bulk of future greenhouse gas emissions.
  
The legislation has already passed the House of Representatives but is facing a bumpy ride in the Senate and will not come up for a vote until early next year at the earliest.
 

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