Emission aim puts Obama in political bind
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The U.S will suggest a near-term emission decrease target at the U.N. Type of weather change summit in Copenhagen next month, a senior management official said Monday. President Obama will announce the aim "in coming days," the official said. The statement of a target will take the current legislative stalemate over a climate bill into account, the senior official said, and thus might present a range of possible reduction rather than a single figure.
The lack of agreement in Congress puts Obama in a tricky domestic and diplomatic bind. He cannot promise to the world more than Congress may finally deliver when it takes up type of weather change legislation next year. But if he does not offer some concrete pledge, the United States will bear the brunt of the blame for the lack of an international agreement.
The official also said the leader would decide shortly whether and for how long he might attend the December climate meeting. He frequent Obama's declaration that he would consider presence if his presence could be a useful impetus to a deal. The official spoke at a White House briefing under the condition that he not be recognized.
The management has so far resisted demands that it commit to a specific goal for reducing emissions, saying it could not pre-empt Congress. China, the world's largest emitter of climate-altering gases, has also refused to spell out plans for reducing emissions, although President Hu Jintao promised in September that his country would decrease the amount of emissions per unit of economic output by a "notable margin." Many observers expect China to deliver a more exact pledge before the Copenhagen meeting.
Obama has come under criticism from leaders of dozens of countries that have already set domestic greenhouse gas lessening targets. He is also under fire from numerous environmental advocates who say the United States, the world's second-largest emitter, must take a credible commitment to Copenhagen to ensure that the talks do not fall apart.
The House approved a measure in June that calls for a 17 percent decrease over 2005 levels of house emissions. A Senate committee passed a bill last month that sets a 20 percent target, but that is likely to be weakened in future discussions.
Obama and leaders of a number of other major countries have said the Copenhagen discussion will not yield a full binding treaty to address global warming. Instead, the more than 190 nations represent there are expected to produce an interim agreement that addresses the major issues without requiring approval or international enforcement.
