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President Obama is slated to speak in Copenhagen on December 9th. Many hope that his address to representatives from around the world will set a positive tone for the negotiations. For the first time in over a decade, an American administration will be proposing emission caps. According to the New York Times, the President will pledge the United States to an emissions cut “in the range of 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050.”
This Monday, I posted a piece on the importance of leadership from China and the United States at Copenhagen and the need for both countries to make emission reduction pledges. Without the initiative of these two powerhouses, the rest of the world is unlikely to follow. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has argued for emission cuts of 80 percent by 2050 from 1990 levels. At this point, it is unclear if Obama’s proposed cuts from 2005 levels are on par with the IPCC’s suggested target.
As a firm believer in the precautionary principle and the great potential of a growing renewable energy economy, it is my hope that Obama’s presence in Denmark will encourage the U.S. Congress to sign into law policies that support the long-term sustainability of our country–and inspire the rest of the world to follow.
