Obama: US ready to lead in tackling climate change, COP 15

Release Date: 2009-04-05

EU leaders welcome the initiative but are still waiting for the US to commit to substantial cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.

According to President Barack Obama, the United States is ready to assume leadership in tackling climate change.

"Together we must confront climate change by ending the world's dependency on fossil fuels by tapping the power from the sources of energy like the wind and the sun and calling upon all nations to do their part,” Obama told a cheering crowd of tens of thousands gathered at Prague Castle for his only public speech during his maiden tour of Europe.

Obama added: "And I pledge to you that in this global effort the US is now ready to lead."

In a comment, the head of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, said the US and Europe had at least come closer to agreeing on the subject.

“We welcome the steps taken by the new American administration and the increasing convergence between the European and US position on that matter," he told reporters after the EU-US summit in Prague, but added there was further to go.

European leaders are eager for signs that the US is willing to commit to major cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. EU nations have agreed to cut their emissions by 20 percent from 1990 levels by 2020, rising to 30 percent if the rest of the developed world – mainly the United States and Japan – agrees to follow suit.

So far, the US has been significantly less ambitious in its emissions targets.

Type:	NORMAL
Company:	COP 15
Country:	Denmark
Url:	http://en.cop15.dk/news/view+news?newsid=1042