Obama Heading to Copenhagen to Promote Action on Global Warming

President Obama has announced that he will attend a major summit on climate change in Copenhagen next month.  Obama plans to lay out his initiative to lower greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent over the next decade, part of a broader goal of reducing heat trapping pollution by 80 percent by 2050.   The decision to attend the summit comes at a time when the president faces great pressure from both environmental advocates at home and leaders of foreign nations to step up his efforts in tackling the issue of climate change.  While many from these groups gave an initial positive response following the announcement, some expressed disappointment that Obama will only attend the second day of the summit, leaving before the negotiations become more aggressive.

This move is a marked departure from the policies of the Bush administration which generally treated climate change as an issue of minimal importance and took a strong stance against regulating emissions.  Obama has made clear that he plans to shift US policy towards more forceful regulations and the creation of millions of  green jobs in order to reduce the trend of global warming.  However, initial expectations for a binding treaty to result from Copenhagen, similar to the Kyoto Protocol, have been greatly diminished over the past few months.  On top of that, the major climate bill which passed the House in June has stalled in the Senate over the issue of cap and trade. 

These major hurdles will put the spotlight on Obama in Copenhagen, testing his ability to bring together varied interests and leaders in order to create consensus on an issue which has evaded presidents for decades.  Plus, the last time Obama was in Copenhagen campaigning for an issue, Chicago ended up finishing last place in its bid for the Olympics.  Hopefully for Obama this trip will be more of a success, especially since his next stop will be Oslo where he will be accepting the Nobel Peace Prize.