U.N. Climate Talks Falter, Agreement Uncertain

President Obama heads for Copenhagen, Denmark today to join other heads of state at the U.N. Climate Change Conference. Negotiators had hoped to reach a political agreement that would lead towards a legally binding agreement in 2010 to cut worldwide greenhouse gas emissions.  However, industrialized and developing countries are deadlocked over the scope of those cuts and the amount of aid industrialized nations are prepared to provide developing countries to adapt to climate change and curb their own emissions. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton today pledged the United States to help secure $100 billion in annual financing by 2020 to help poor countries cope with climate change in exchange for an international accord that includes emission reduction commitments from both developed and major developing countries.  Negotiators must also agree on how emission cuts made by all countries would be verified with both China and India hesitant to agree to third-party verification.  The U.S. has proposed greenhouse gas emission cuts of about 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020, or 3 percent below 1990 levels, and the U.S. House of Representatives passed the bill in June.  The Senate is not expected to act on the legislation until the second quarter of 2010.  For more information, contact Karen Lapsevic at (202) 547-4733 or lapsevick.agc.org.