US Mission Geneva

In his January 25 State of the Union address, President Obama challenged the United States to become the first nation with 1 million electric cars. His administration since has announced several initiatives it will ask Congress to fund in the 2012 budget to help spur such rapid growth.

Last year in Copenhagen, President Obama joined with leaders and others representing countries from around the world to find a formula that could bridge a wide variety of interests and perspectives and forge a new path on climate change – one on which all Parties would embark together.

Nearly a week into the meetings, the U.S. delegation at COP-16 maintains that the United States stands by its commitments from last year’s Copenhagen Accord and remains prepared to move forward. Most important, they say, the United States is showing in real dollars and actions that it’s taking unprecedented steps to address climate change at home and overseas.

The highest priorities of U.S. national security are the safety of Americans at home and abroad and achieving a peaceful, stable world through global cooperation despite a flawed international system, President Obama says.

“The United States today officially announced its desire to associate with the Copenhagen Accord and submitted its emissions reduction target to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The U.S. submission reflects President Obama’s continued commitment to meeting the climate change and clean energy challenge through robust domestic and international action that will strengthen our economy, enhance our national security and protect our environment.

Good morning. It’s an honor to for me to join this distinguished group of leaders from nations around the world. We come together here in Copenhagen because climate change poses a grave and growing danger to our people.

Over the course of the week, I’ve had a number of very constructive conversations. Let me make one comment about something back at home. In I think an important development in the U.S. Senate, Senators Kerry, Graham and Lieberman announced a comprehensive framework for energy and climate legislation, and this is actually quite a significant development, a significant step in the effort to pass comprehensive energy and climate reform. The President believes this is a positive development towards reaching a strong, unified and bipartisan agreement on such legislation in the U.S. One element of the framework that is particularly relevant and important to the international process says that American leadership – now I’m quoting from what the senators released – “American leadership is essential, but action by the developing world is necessary to maximize the benefits of our effort.

The White House announced today that President Obama will travel to Copenhagen on Dec. 9 to participate in the United Nations Climate Change Conference, where he is eager to work with the international community to drive progress toward a comprehensive and operational Copenhagen accord.

This eJournal USA offers perspectives of experts and activists in several key countries on effective policies to curb greenhouse gas emissions to mitigate global warming and adapt to irreversible changes, and features an introduction by U.S. special envoy Todd Stern.