WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Despite widespread optimism that President-elect Barack Obama will adopt policies more to their liking, some European officials are preparing to be disappointed on global warming.European leaders have expressed hopes Obama would quickly break from the Bush administration and support a global agreement to limit greenhouse emissions blamed for global warming. But some are tempering their expectations that the United States can shift quickly enough to sign a deal by the end of next year.Though Obama has supported the kind of limits on emissions envisioned by international negotiators and spurned by President George W. Bush, it appears that Congress may not be ready to back him immediately.The top European Union official in Washington, John Bruton, says there is growing concern that Congress could upend a global deal to succeed the Kyoto Protocol that they hope to sign at a meeting in Copenhagen at the end of 2009.
European leaders have expressed hopes Obama would quickly break from the Bush administration and support a global agreement to limit greenhouse emissions blamed for global warming. But some are tempering their expectations that the United States can shift quickly enough to sign a deal by the end of next year.
Though Obama has supported the kind of limits on emissions envisioned by international negotiators and spurned by President George W. Bush, it appears that Congress may not be ready to back him immediately.
The top European Union official in Washington, John Bruton, says there is growing concern that Congress could upend a global deal to succeed the Kyoto Protocol that they hope to sign at a meeting in Copenhagen at the end of 2009.
