President Obama to attend climate meetings in Copenhagen

President Barack Obama announced he will be attending talks on climate change scheduled for early December in Copenhagen.  Obama, who campaigned on a pledge to tackle climate change, has been under pressure to attend the meeting amid criticism the US has failed to enact legislation to limit heat trapping pollution and create an emissions-trading market. The US is the biggest greenhouse gas producer among developed nations.

In Copenhagen, negotiations are expected for a new treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol which will expire in 2012.   Negotiators have worked for almost two years to devise new emissions reduction targets for the 37 developed nations bound by the 1997 Kyoto Protocol treaty’s goals. Leaders are trying to agree on standards for the US, which never ratified the Kyoto accord, and for developing nations such as China and India, which had no Kyoto commitments.    President Obama will offer an emissions-cut goal of about 17% by 2020.

After spending December 9th in Copenhagen, Obama will travel to nearby Oslo, Norway to accept the Nobel Peace Prize he was recently awarded.