U.S. President Barack Obama will travel to Copenhagen next month for the United Nations climate summit with a new offer to cut American greenhouse gas emissions by 17 per cent on 2005 figures by 2020. But critics said the long-awaited White House initiative would do little to ensure a successful outcome to the talks, and would come at the wrong time in the negotiations.
Mr. Obama will travel to Copenhagen on December 10, on his way to collect the Nobel peace prize in Oslo the next day.
But the White House gave no indication that the President was prepared to return to the city when 60 world leaders fly in to add impetus to the final deal one week later on December 18 — the last day of the talks.
The London Observer revealed this week that the U.S. administration was poised to announce a specific figure for cuts before the Copenhagen talks.
Mr. Obama’s commitment to attend the talks was welcomed by the U.N. and many environment groups but dismissed by others as a photo opportunity designed to upstage the other 60 world leaders.
Yvo de Boer, U.N. climate chief, said: “I think it’s critical that President Obama attend the climate change summit in Copenhagen. We have figures from all industrialised countries, with the exception of the United States. This is the first thing we need, and this is critical.”
But others dismissed Mr. Obama’s appearance. “The Copenhagen climate summit is not about a photo opportunity, it’s about getting a global agreement to stop climate chaos,” said Greenpeace. “President Obama needs to be there at the same time as all the other world leaders to get the right agreement. It’s the right city, but the wrong date. It seems that he’s just not taking this issue seriously.
“The new US offer to cut emissions 17% on 2005 figures equates to 6% at 1990 levels and will not help the summit reach a strong deal to stop climate chaos.”
Observers close to the negotiations questioned whether the U.S. target for 2020 would be enough to draw large developing nations such as China into a global deal. The U.S. may have to promise huge financial assistance as a sweetener, they said. The White House statement did not mention finance.
Mr. Obama had previously said he would only attend the conference if negotiators were “on the brink of a meaningful agreement and my presence in Copenhagen will make a difference in tipping us over the edge”.
Keya Chatterjee, WWF-U.S. climate programme director, said: “If his presence during the latter days of the meeting becomes necessary to secure the right commitments, we hope the President will be willing to return to Copenhagen with the rest of the world’s leaders during the final stages of the negotiations.” — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2009
