President Obama is pledging a provisional target for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, the first time an American administration offered even a tentative promise to reduce production of climate-altering gases, White House officials said Wednesday. Mr. Obama will travel to the United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen next month to deliver the pledge in hopes of spurring significant progress at the talks.
Mr. Obama will tell the delegates to the climate conference that the United States intends to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions “in the range of” 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050, officials said. No American administration has ever delivered even a tentative pledge on emissions reductions because Congress has never enacted climate legislation or approved an international global warming agreement with binding emissions targets.
Mr. Obama, who had not previously committed to making an appearance at the climate summit, had been under considerable pressure from other world leaders and environmental advocates to make the trip as a statement of American seriousness about the climate change negotiations. He will appear on Dec. 9, near the beginning of the 12-day session, on his way to accept the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on Dec. 10, officials said.
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