Obama To Copenhagen For Climate Talks (BREAKING)

Under pressure from other nations as one of the world's largest greenhouse-gas polluters, the Obama administration said the United States plans to present a target for reducing carbon dioxide emissions in Copenhagen.

The development came as the European Union urged the United States and China to deliver greenhouse gas emissions targets at the long-anticipated summit, saying their delays were hindering global efforts to curb climate change.

For nearly a year the Obama administration has indicated it would eventually come up with specific targets for quick reductions in pollution that causes global warming, as part of international negotiations. Those targets will soon be made public, officials said.

A senior administration official, briefing reporters only on condition of anonymity in order to discuss the administration's thinking, said that all countries, including the U.S., "will need to put their emissions targets on the table."

The Obama administration has resisted talking specific numbers without the backing of Congress, which is not expected to pass climate legislation until next year at the soonest. The official would not offer details about the U.S. targets but said any U.S. goal will reflect the unfinished state of legislation on Capitol Hill and would not seek to get ahead of it.

A House-passed bill would slash heat-trapping pollution by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020. A Senate bill seeks a 20 percent reduction over the next decade, but that number is likely to come down to win the votes of moderate Democrats.

The United States has historically been the world's largest greenhouse gas-polluter until China zoomed ahead in 2006.

Meanwhile...
China vows to seek climate deal - The Irish Times - Wed, Nov 25, 2009

China will demand next month's Copenhagen climate summit culminates in a real deal, Xinhua news agency quoted a Chinese negotiator as saying, but appears to have accepted that a legally binding agreement must wait until 2010.

"We will try to make the summit successful and we will not accept that it ends with an empty and so-called political declaration," Li Gao, an official with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said at a forum today.

At least the world's top two polluters are beginning to get serious about negotiating a deal, and Copenhagen could yet mark a milestone in the process...

However the US targets set to date have been almost laughably inadequate:
Obama To Copenhagen For Climate Talks (BREAKING)

A panel of U.N. scientists has recommended that developed countries cut between 25 percent and 40 percent of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 to avoid a catastrophic rise in sea levels, harsher storms and droughts, and climate disruptions.

The EU aims for deeper cuts than most other industrialized nations -- pledging to move from a 20 percent cut below 1990 levels to 30 percent if others follow suit. By 2050, it wants to eliminate most emissions, with a target of up to 95 percent.

The U.S. is considering a far lower cut -- 17 percent from 2005 levels or about 3.5 percent from 1990. Japan has promised a 25 percent reduction from 1990 levels. Per head, Americans account for twice the emissions compared to Europeans and Japanese.

While the EU sees itself as a trailblazer, it has delayed promising cash to poorer nations to help them tackle global warming. EU leaders have pledged to pay their "fair share" into an annual global fund but gave no amount.

They estimated that $148 billion a year is needed and that half should come from governments. The EU's executive suggested that the 27 EU governments should give up to $22 billion a year from 2013 to 2020.

Proposing just a 3.5% cut from 1990 levels compared to 30% for the EU and 25% for Japan - and that when starting from a base of twice the EU levels - is not going to be taken very seriously by other negotiators.  Let us hope Obama comes to the table with something more realistic.  However to date he has been reluctant to get ahead of the proposals before the US House and Senate.

Perhaps it is time for Obama to take a lead and not always pass the buck to Congress.