Obama joins gas-cut club
November 27, 2009, Friday
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UNITED States President Barack Obama will commit his nation to substantial cuts in greenhouse gas pollution over the next decade at a major climate conference in Copenhagen next month.
He remains firm despite Congress resistance over higher costs.
Obama will attend the start of the conference on December 9 before heading to Oslo to accept the Nobel Peace Prize.
He will "put on the table" a US commitment to cut emissions by 17 percent over the next decade, on the way to reducing heat-trapping pollution by 80 percent by mid-century, the White House said.
Cutting US carbon dioxide emissions by one-sixth in just a decade would increase the cost of energy as electric utilities pay for capturing carbon dioxide at coal-burning power plants or switch to more expensive alternatives.
Obama's promise of greenhouse emissions cuts will require Congress to pass complex climate legislation that the administration says will include an array of measures to ease the price impact.
The bills before Congress, for example, would have the government provide polluters free emissions allowances in the early years of the transition from fossil fuels and direct payments to many consumers facing high costs.
Obama's stopover on the conference's second day - instead of later, when negotiations will be most intense and when most other national leaders will take part - disappointed some European and United Nations climate officials, as well as some environmentalists.
Others said Obama's personal appeal would resonate with the delegates from more than 75 countries, including China.
He remains firm despite Congress resistance over higher costs.
Obama will attend the start of the conference on December 9 before heading to Oslo to accept the Nobel Peace Prize.
He will "put on the table" a US commitment to cut emissions by 17 percent over the next decade, on the way to reducing heat-trapping pollution by 80 percent by mid-century, the White House said.
Cutting US carbon dioxide emissions by one-sixth in just a decade would increase the cost of energy as electric utilities pay for capturing carbon dioxide at coal-burning power plants or switch to more expensive alternatives.
Obama's promise of greenhouse emissions cuts will require Congress to pass complex climate legislation that the administration says will include an array of measures to ease the price impact.
The bills before Congress, for example, would have the government provide polluters free emissions allowances in the early years of the transition from fossil fuels and direct payments to many consumers facing high costs.
Obama's stopover on the conference's second day - instead of later, when negotiations will be most intense and when most other national leaders will take part - disappointed some European and United Nations climate officials, as well as some environmentalists.
Others said Obama's personal appeal would resonate with the delegates from more than 75 countries, including China.
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