Wind turbines on houses that use 20% renewable energy on Nov. 25 in Croydon, England. (Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)
The summit will not produce a treaty with concrete steps to cut down on greenhouse gases, but many hope Obama's visit will be a step forward. The Copenhagen summit was intended originally to be a successor to the Kyoto Protocol of 1997. Obama and seven of his cabinet members will visit Copenhagen on his way to Norway's capital, Oslo, to accept the Nobel Peace Prize.
The Obama administration has placed great importance on addressing climate change as the United States is one of the leading emitters of carbon dioxide as well as other greenhouse gases like nitrous oxide and methane.
According to the press release, the U.S. has invested $80 billion in clean energy under the Recovery Act. The aim of the U.S. government now is to cut down emissions to 17 percent lower than the levels in 2005 by the year 2020. If it meets this goal, its 2020 greenhouse gas emissions will be lower than the levels in 1990.
By 2030, the U.S. aims to cut emissions to 42 percent lower than the levels in 2005, according to the press release. President Obama also will propose that the rest of the world cut emissions to 83 percent of 2005 levels by 2050.
Other major world leaders attending the conference include U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Republican Senator James Inhofe feels that an Obama visit to the climate summit would not be well received among the American population. He said “international U.N. climate treaties would severely undermine our economy, ship jobs overseas, and raise energy prices.”
Other countries said that they would like to reach a kind of tacit agreement at the Copenhagen summit and take more concrete steps next year to combat climate change.
