Warming trends are moving faster in the Arctic than in the mid-latitudes for a variety of reasons. The amount of heat the planet surface reflects into the atmosphere is a significant factor.

The United States is pleased to be engaging with other Parties here at the 23rd Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The Minamata Convention represents a major step forward to help the United States and other countries to reduce people’s exposure to mercury, a toxic chemical with significant negative health effects including to the brain and nervous system.

The United States supports a balanced approach to climate policy that lowers emissions while promoting economic growth and ensuring energy security.

A/HRC/35/L.32 Explanation of Position by the United States of America Human Rights Council, 35th Session We thank the members of the core group for their continued dedication to an issue of importance to many countries.  Climate change is a complex global challenge.  As we said with respect to a prior Human Rights Council resolution on …

At the 28th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol in Kigali, Rwanda, countries adopted an amendment to phase down HFCs, committing to cut the production and consumption of HFCs by more than 80 percent over the next 30 years.

From September 1-10, the State of Hawaii will host the IUCN World Conservation Congress (WCC) under the theme “Planet at the Crossroads.” At the Congress, the State Department will help showcase the Administration’s accomplishments on a range of international environmental issues, including climate, oceans and wildlife trafficking.

The U.S. Department of State has partnered with the Ocean Foundation, the Heising-Simons Foundation, Schmidt Marine Technology Partners, and the XPRIZE Foundation to launch a public-private partnership, the “OceAn pH Research Integration and Collaboration in Africa (ApHRICA)” project, to advance ocean acidification monitoring in Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, and South Africa.

Ambassador Pamela Hamamoto stresses the importance of the World Meteorological Organization and the many national weather and meteorological services around the world to address the impacts of our changing climate.

The United States welcomed China’s announcement that it would participate at a senior level in the 2016 Our Ocean conference, to be held in Washington, D.C. September 15-16, 2016. The first two Our Ocean conferences resulted in pledges of over $4 billion toward ocean conservation and commitments to safeguard almost six million square kilometers of …

The United States and India signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to facilitate joint efforts to combat wildlife trafficking and promote other wildlife conservation measures in India. Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Catherine Novelli and Indian Ambassador to the United States Arun K. Singh signed the MOU for their …

If 2015 was a year of commitment, 2016 is the year to take action. And the IUCN World conservation Congress is an important step in that direction, offering us all a chance to define the sustainable path for moving the Paris climate agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals from targets to achievements.

The President’s Budget request for the Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) directly supports the National Security Strategy by helping to build and sustain a more secure, prosperous, and democratic world.

Today in Montreal, the U.S. and 22 other countries reached agreement on the first-ever global carbon standards for commercial aircraft. When fully implemented, the standards are expected to reduce carbon emissions more than 650 million tons between 2020 and 2040, equivalent to removing over 140 million cars from the road for a year.

Climate change is a global threat that requires a global solution. Yet, many of the countries that have contributed little to global emissions are impacted the most.


“I’ve come here personally, as the leader of the world’s largest economy and the second-largest emitter, to say that the United States of America not only recognizes our role in creating this problem, we embrace our responsibility to do something about it.”

The U.S. – China Climate Leaders Summit fulfills a key element of the U.S.-China Joint Announcement on Climate Change by Presidents Obama and Xi last November, and helps to ensure that the ambitious actions to address climate change that both leaders committed to will be implemented at the state and local level, where they matter …

President Obama is committed to leading the fight against climate change by curbing the carbon pollution that is driving global warming, building resilience in American communities to the climate impacts we can no longer avoid, and driving progress on the international stage.

Climate change is no longer just about the future that we’re predicting for our children or our grandchildren; it’s about the reality that we’re living with every day, right now.

The Clean Power Plan establishes the first-ever national standards to limit carbon pollution from power plants.

The U.S. target will roughly double the pace of carbon pollution reduction in the United States from 1.2 percent per year on average during the 2005-2020 period to 2.3-2.8 percent per year on average between 2020 and 2025.

The election for IPCC chair will take place during the 42nd session of the IPCC from October 6-10, 2015.

As the head of the U.S. regulating body charged with protecting public health and the environment, let me say on behalf of my organization, and the American people, thank you for all that you do.

The United States is committed to identifying inclusive, ambitious, and flexible approaches to address climate change.

With this report, we have yet another round of authoritative, peer-reviewed science to prove it.

Simply put: the economy isn’t a reason to fear action, it’s a reason to take it.

No nation is immune… Worldwide, this summer was the hottest ever recorded — with global carbon emissions still on the rise.

The United States announced August 27 that it will afford Endangered Species Act protections to 20 coral species. All 20 species will be listed as “threatened,” a less dire classification than “endangered.”

The project will increase Burma’s capacity to provide stable energy to its people and attract investment that will help the country grow its economy, according to a press release from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR).

We continue to support the WHO’s efforts to address climate change, working alongside fellow U.N. organizations such as the U.N. Environment Program and the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Secretary Kerry reminded us why we all need to care about the ocean: life itself depends on our relationship with the ocean. The ocean covers almost three quarters of the planet.

The report is based on evidence that climate change already is affecting the United States with increased storm severity, harsh drought conditions and rising sea levels encroaching upon coastal areas.

Since the Global Platform meeting last May, the world has been struck with a number of extraordinary disasters underscoring that the unrelenting global challenges we face have never been greater to reducing disaster risks worldwide.

President Obama ordered an expansion of existing marine protected areas surrounding Pacific Remote Islands, and he set in motion stronger government action against illegal fishing.

EPA is proposing a Clean Power Plan that will cut carbon pollution from our power sector, by using cleaner energy sources, and cutting energy waste.

The Obama administration is taking action to reduce the amount of carbon sent into the atmosphere by electric power production, the source of about one-third of all domestic greenhouse gases and the single largest source of carbon pollution.

EPA announced funding for six universities to research cleaner technologies and fuels for cooking, lighting and heating homes with the goal of improving air quality and protecting the health of people across the developing world.

As part of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, the Energy Department announced two new energy efficiency standards for electric motors and walk-in coolers and freezers

Increasing pressure on fragile land and water resources makes it more critical than ever to ensure that these resources are used effectively and sustainably to feed a swelling global population.

I would like to reiterate Secretary Kerry’s continued commitment to tackling this illegal trade.

U.S. experts in investigations of wildlife trafficking and enforcement of trafficking laws are about to begin duty in Bangkok and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Countries with unreliable supplies of water are more vulnerable to conflict, according to a new report from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

How is the latest U.S. satellite and mobile technology helping 350 million of the world’s poorest people — including 60 million indigenous people — safeguard their homes and livelihoods?

The United States announced a National Strategy for Combating Wildlife Trafficking. The Strategy will strengthen U.S. leadership on addressing the serious and urgent conservation and global security threat posed by illegal trade in wildlife.

Secretary Kerry: This appointment comes at a pivotal moment in the global effort to address climate change. Every single year of the 21st century – including 2013 – ranks among the 15 warmest years on record.

From January 12 to 17, 2014 Geneva’s CICG center will be the site of a major international conference and exhibit aimed at improving access to critical information on the global environment.

Over the last five years, American inventors and investors have made significant progress in developing and deploying key clean energy technologies, supported by the policies of the Obama administration.

The United States commends China for destroying more than five tons of ivory, in Guangdong Province.

Environmental research and weather forecasting will advance with the February 2014 launch of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory.

OSCE continues to build trust and confidence among its 57 member states to advance political-military, economic and environmental security.

Since its establishment by the Security Council in 1991, the UNCC has administered a truly innovative claims program.

U.S. officials will consider whether the current legal U.S. trade in ivory should be outlawed as a way to curtail illegal trafficking in wildlife products.

A U.S. team goes to the 2013 round of negotiations on global climate change ready to demonstrate that the United States has taken “robust action” to reduce the nation’s level of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

A global agreement to reduce environmental pollution from the heavy metal mercury moved forward November 6 when the United States became the first nation to send ratifying documents to the United Nations.

The U.S. is making steady progress in reducing energy consumption, increasing efficiency and deploying alternative energy technologies.

By Charlene Porter IIP Staff Writer Washington, October 22, 2013   The chief U.S. climate negotiator is proposing the main pillars of a new world agreement to control greenhouse gases (GHGs) and limit climate change, pillars which allow greater flexibility in how nations move toward creating clean-energy economies. Todd Stern, representing the U.S. State Department …

By Charlene Porter IIP Staff Writer Washington, 18 October 2013 The weather that humans considered hot over the past century or so will be the kind of weather that future generations will find to be cool, according to new climate science reported in the journal Nature October 10. A research team at the University of …

An EPA announcement says the proposal marks an important milestone in enactment of the Climate Action Plan unveiled by President Obama in June.

Nations of the world’s leading economies rank climate change along with growth, jobs, investment and trade as a key issue of the future.

Building on a 30-year relationship, top officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) signed a long-term cooperative agreement, ensuring continued space-based weather, water and climate monitoring.

U.S. innovation in energy-efficient and low-carbon technologies is moving at a steady pace, and Obama administration policies are aimed at further accelerating that speed as part of the recently announced strategy toward a low-carbon economy.

The year 2012 was among the 10 warmest on record, according to the 2012 State of the Climate report, compiled by almost 400 scientists from 52 nations.

Environmental protection is good for the economy and creates jobs, according to decades of national experience. The United States’ new top environmental officer says those facts should end the nation’s decades-long debate on a “false choice” — the assertion that environmental protections inhibit economic growth.

Asian governments are showing heightened concern about addressing environmental problems and preserving existing natural resources, according to assessments presented to a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee.

Top environmental officials from Canada, Mexico and the United States agreed on an action plan to improve environmental standards in the transportation sector, act on climate change and improve air quality.

Pairs of U.S. and Chinese companies and institutions are joining ventures in which they seize shared problems to find solutions that prevent pollution, mitigate greenhouse gases, protect water and preserve the environment.

The Obama administration recognized 11 community health leaders from around the U.S. for their work to raise awareness of climate change and the ill effects it can have on public health.

Washington, June 27, 2013 The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has calculated the carbon storage capacity of the United States. The data can be used in a strategy to counter climate change by storing carbon emissions in rock to prevent their release into the atmosphere. The United States has the potential to store about 3,000 metric …

President Obama outlined his latest proposals to reduce U.S. carbon emissions and prepare the nation for climate change.

New discoveries and new technologies have created significant increases in domestic energy production, allowing a decrease in reliance on oil imports.

The National Ocean Policy places before us a framework that is genuinely centered in a vision of oceans “of the people, for the people, and by the people.”

The world’s oceans lost a champion when U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg died June 3 of viral pneumonia.

President Obama is preparing for a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping June 7-8 as U.S. presidential advisers lay the groundwork for future agreements to advance a shared agenda.

Feeding the hungry, preventing waste, saving money and cleaning the air are the multiple objectives in sight for World Environment Day 2013.

In businesses, factories, schools and other public buildings, they are dimming the lights and insulating the pipes to increase energy efficiency and reduce energy consumption.

Ambassador King: “Dr. Janjic embodies the spirit of international scientific cooperation that is the hallmark of the work of the WMO and of the IMO Prize.”

The Arctic Council presides over one of the Earth’s coldest places, but the warming of the Arctic and the overall planetary trend of climate change were the dominant topics as the council met May 15 in Kiruna, Sweden.

Washington State University will lead a new effort to develop wheat varieties that are better at tolerating the high temperatures found in most of the world’s growing regions — temperatures that are likely to increase with global warming.

The melting of Greenland’s glaciers in the summer of 2012 was as extensive as it has been in more than a century, and U.S. scientists now conclude that a very particular type of cloud formation made the difference.

The U.S. advocates a proposal to create a vast marine reserve in Antarctica’s Ross Sea, said Secretary Kerry and he emphasized the Obama administration’s renewed focus on climate change and environmental stewardship

Ambassador Betty E. King delivered remarks at an event to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Convention for International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The U.S. Mission sponsored an exhibit and film presentation to mark the occasion.

Landsat 8 lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California February 11, beginning a mission to constantly collect data about surface conditions on Earth. The mission puts more sensitive instruments in orbit, opening the latest chapter in Earth observation.

Oil and gas prospectors will be able to bid on leases March 20 to explore and develop petroleum resources in the central Gulf of Mexico as part of the Obama administration’s five-year leasing program for the region.

Busy shipping lanes off the California coast, including routes that cross three national marine sanctuaries, will be adjusted to protect endangered whales from ship strikes.

The world’s top decision makers on climate are meeting in Doha, Qatar, over the next two weeks for the U.N. Climate Change Conference. The 18th Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework on Climate Change is expected to focus on strategies for accelerating actions to reduce greenhouse gases and to inhibit the increase of …

California is holding its first carbon emissions permit auction November 14. The auction is a critical component of the state’s cap-and-trade program, a market-based initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by creating incentives for companies to limit their pollution.

Blocking the sunlight that reaches Earth might be another means to lessen the effects of climate change, some U.S. scientists theorize.

The United States is proud of its association with the IUCN. There are 91 IUCN members in the United States, including the Department of State and six other U.S. Government agencies and over 50 non-governmental organizations. We look forward to continuing that relationship for many years to come.

First signed in 1972 and last amended in 1987, the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement is a model of binational cooperation to protect the world’s largest surface freshwater system and the health of the surrounding communities.

Russia and the United States plan to link national parks situated along both sides of their border on the Bering Strait to help protect environmental resources, conduct scientific research and preserve the lifestyle, cultures and languages of the region’s indigenous population.

A U.S. Coast Guard ship is sailing the Arctic to conduct research on growing acidity in the northernmost ocean and its effect on the food chain.

Nine companies hailing from India, Japan, Kenya, the United Kingdom and the United States will be sharing their ideas on waste management and related issues as part of a three-day forum associated with the LAUNCH: Beyond Waste challenge. LAUNCH is a program that aims to identify and accelerate solutions to the world’s most urgent sustainability …

The U.S. agency that studies the Earth’s environment and predicts changes has announced a major advance in its ability to predict mass coral bleaching that will determine the probability of bleaching up to four months into the future.

The United States announced new whale conservation initiatives and led the effort to promote conservation work at the 64th annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) July 2–6 in Panama.

Partially funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the MSU program has developed a new application for thermal imaging technology, using it to monitor surface temperature gradients on animals.

“Space weather is a global challenge requiring coordinated global preparedness. We recognize space weather as a significant natural hazard risk with economic and societal impacts on key infrastructures and technologies including power grids, location and timing systems, aviation operation and security of satellites.”

Populations of oceangoing mammals are rebounding in U.S. waters and beyond, thanks to a federal law enacted nearly 40 years ago.

Methane hydrates are ice structures with natural gas locked inside. They are found both onshore and offshore, including under the Arctic permafrost and in ocean sediments along nearly every continental shelf in the world, the Energy Department said in a press release.

Warmer temperatures causing global climate change are recorded month after month, but the greatest evidence of environmental change appears in the Arctic

New designs for more energy-efficient household appliances are among the top goals announced at a high-level governmental forum working to speed the global transition to cleaner technologies.

The United States will exhibit its diverse ocean environments and coastal communities during EXPO 2012 Yeosu Korea, and tell how America’s culture, history, security and economy are linked to this complex ecosystem.

The U.S. Mission supported an event for Earth Day at the International Environment House. Organized by the Antinea Foundation and the Geneva Environmental Network, the event aimed to build synergies among the NGOs present.

Ecosystems dependent on snow and ice may suffer the most adverse impacts from climate change, according to a body of information accumulated through the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network, a project sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, aims to satisfy the curiosity of anyone seeking a bird’s-eye view of the Earth’s transformation through decades of climate change and global warming.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Wildlife Without Borders program has entered into an agreement with Cameroon’s Garoua Wildlife College (l’Ecole de Faune de Garoua [EFG]) that will enhance wildlife conservation in Central and West Africa, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced March 15.

Rio+20 is about the future. The United States believes that Rio+20 should be a different kind of meeting, one that transforms the multilateral approach to sustainable development and incorporates its concepts across all sectors.

The United States believes that Rio+20 should be a different kind of meeting, one that transforms the multilateral approach to sustainable development and incorporates its concepts across all sectors.

Reta Jo Lewis spoke at the opening of the Road to Rio – R20 Conference in Geneva March 7, 2012.

Major corporate players in a variety of industries, from food to retail to computers, have received awards for their leadership in reducing carbon emissions and taking action on climate change.

Partners in 60 countries in six regions will share nearly $15.5 million in wildlife conservation grants from a U.S. agency to protect endangered wildlife.

Satellite observations accumulated over a seven-year period show that the volume of Earth’s land ice mass decreased by 4.3 trillion tons (more than 4,150 cubic kilometers) and increased global sea level by 12 millimeters. That’s enough ice to cover the entire United States to a half-meter depth.

Career opportunities are growing in the emerging “green economy,” and women need to take notice, according to Sara Manzano-Díaz, director of the Women’s Bureau at the U.S. Department of Labor.

As Rio+20, the 20th anniversary of the 1992 Earth Summit, approaches in June, we have a chance to learn lessons, build partnerships and put in place innovative strategies that can reshape the economic and environmental future of our entire planet. It is the rarest of opportunities to truly change the world, and make a difference …

World Wetlands Day gives us a unique opportunity to highlight and celebrate our diverse wetlands around the globe. Only recently have we begun to understand the important functions that wetlands perform – they are the world’s most productive environments, comparable to coral reefs and rain forests, and a vital link between water and land.

Worried that warming temperatures and glacier melt might endanger Seattle’s water supply, city officials took bold steps to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

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On December 13th, the US Mission co-hosted, with the Republic of Poland, a reception at the UN of Geneva to commemorate the closing of 2011 as the International Year of Forests. Speaking at the ceremony, Ambassador Betty E. King noted how 2011 has “delivered compelling examples from across the globe of national and international efforts …

By 2023, Turkey seeks to produce 30 percent of its power from renewable resources, including solar, wind, hydro, geothermal and biomass. By increasing renewable-energy and energy-efficiency exports, U.S. firms can help Turkey meet its energy needs while supporting American jobs in the growing clean-energy sector.

Data collected from U.S. and French satellites have led to confirmation of a “merging tsunami,” the monster wave that slammed the northeastern Japanese coastline last March.

Excessive levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere are causing the planet to grow warmer, most researchers agree. One possible response to the problem is to prevent CO2 from entering the atmosphere by storing it somewhere else.

International cooperative actions to mitigate climate change will be up for discussion when a major international meeting convenes in Durban, South Africa, November 28 through December 9. The chief U.S. negotiator, Todd Stern, expects that this year’s session on the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will build on progress made in the last …

The United States and the Republic of Korea will work together to advance innovative breakthroughs in clean energy technology, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced October 13.

Degradation of the land supporting human life and the food supply is an environmental threat that endangers the lives and livelihoods of more than 1 billion people worldwide. On September 20, world leaders met in a high-level U.N. forum for the first time to address desertification and drought.

Washington — Seventy days remain until international leaders will gather in South Africa to discuss ways to tackle climate change. The road ahead is tough, U.S. lead climate negotiator Todd Stern told reporters September 19, “but I’m not pessimistic.”

“Cities are the location of a lot of emissions because they’re centers of industry and population,” Mann said. “But they’re also laboratories for solutions. They’re going to generate the ideas the federal government will come back to, at some point, out of necessity.”

This year a jury will choose three policies that they believe best contribute to the conservation and sustainable development of forests. Twenty policies from sixteen countries were nominated and the United States joins five other countries on the list of finalists: Bhutan, The Gambia, Nepal, Rwanda, and Switzerland.

Research published June 20 finds a steady rise in the sea level on the U.S. Atlantic coast, a faster rise now than at any time in the last 2,000 years.

In commemoration of World Environment Day, the U.S. Mission is sponsoring Mona Sfeir’s “Recycling Labyrinth” a work of art comprised of 8,000 plastic bottles, the number of bottles that go into landfills worldwide every second, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

Choosing the right tree to plant depends on what sort of climate you live in. The U.S. Department of Agriculture teamed up with the Chicago Botanic Garden and Pennsylvania State University to produce an illustrated list of trees and shrubs best suited for urban environments.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded a grant to the United Nations University (UNU) to help curb rising pollution and health problems associated with discarded electronics.

The United States Mission to the United Nations is very pleased to have been selected as a model of green diplomacy and environmental stewardship under a new award created by the U.S. Department of State. The U.S. Mission was chosen as the runner up in the first annual Greening Diplomacy Initiative (GDI) award, which recognizes …

Ambassador King: “With the sowing of seeds of what is known as the “mélange de Geneve” – which includes 46 different species of regional and local flowers and native wild grasses – the lawn we stand on today will be transformed into a meadow full of flowering prairie grasses indigenous to the Geneva region.”

On April 20, 2011, the United States Mission to the United Nations in Geneva will celebrate its signature of Geneva’s Garden Charter (Charte des Jardins) with a seed sowing ceremony beginning the conversion of the lawns surrounding our building to meadows of flowering prairie grasses indigenous to the Geneva region. The conversion from lawn to …

The depletion of the ozone layer over the Arctic is more severe than scientists have ever seen it, with a 40 percent loss occurring from the beginning of winter to late March.

Today, my Administration is releasing a Blueprint for A Secure Energy Future that outlines the comprehensive national energy policy we’ve pursued since the day I took office. And here at Georgetown, I’d like to talk in broad strokes about how we will secure that future.

To commemorate World Forestry Day and the International Year of Forests, Ambassador King planted a tree on UN grounds in a symbolic step “towards furthering the ambition of increased tree coverage around the globe.”

The U.S. Mission is proud to have participated in the unique Art of Trees exhibition at the United Nations organized by the UNECE and FAO. The exhibit combines artwork on the theme of trees – including a series of 24 posters by Montana artist Monte Dolack – and beautiful living trees. The trees will be …

The U.S. government is pushing for large-scale wind power development and the timing may be just right.

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 …

I think we have had a useful, pretty constructive meeting over the last day and a half to discuss financing issues which are a key part of this overall negotiation. One thing I noted when I spoke yesterday kind of up top was the three key issues that comprise the overall finance question which are …

A Blog by the Nine U.S. landscape architecture students who are spending the first two weeks of August studying the grounds surrounding the U.S. Mission and drafting a design to make our gardens greener and more sustainable.

Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument is a national treasure. It is the United States’ single largest conservation area, and its inclusion in the World Heritage List will make it the second largest World Heritage Site in the world. Its 139,797 square miles are home to over 7,000 marine species, a fourth of which are found only …

“I am very excited about this project, which will help reinforce the Mission’s reputation as the greenest US diplomatic building in Europe,” said Ambassador Betty E. King, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva. “The efforts of this talented team of young landscape architects will not only help us make our environment more …

I’ve returned from a trip to the Gulf Coast to speak with you about the battle we’re waging against an oil spill that is assaulting our shores and our citizens.

Forty years ago, Earth Day began in the United States as a “teach-in” – a day to educate people about the environmental challenges facing our planet. Today, we know more than ever about the challenges of preserving our environment – from clean water to climate change – and Earth Day has evolved into a call …

President Obama today challenged Americans to take action in their homes, communities, schools, or businesses to improve the environment in honor of the upcoming 40th Anniversary of Earth Day, April 22, 2010.

“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 …

Today I’ve had some useful conversations – already met with my Chinese friend Xie Zhenhua and have been working on the negotiations that are going to be coming up this afternoon. Members of our U.S. team have been participating in the various informal consultations that have spun out of the plenary session that Connie Hedegaard, …

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 …

The bottom line is the United States is committed to getting the strongest possible agreement we can over the next two weeks. We are under no illusion that this is going to be easy. I think it is going to be challenging. But I think an agreement is there to be had if we do …

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.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you very much. Good morning. I want to thank the Secretary General for organizing this summit, and all the leaders who are participating. That so many of us are here today is a recognition that the threat from climate change is serious, it is urgent, and it is growing. Our generation’s response …

Improving development and delivery of climate services offers untold economic, environmental, human health, and national security benefits. For these reasons, the U.S. delegation is very pleased with the outcome of this conference, and its decision to establish a Global Framework for Climate Services.

Dr. Jane Lubchenco, Head of Delegation: I’m very excited with this conference. I believe that today will be remembered as the day that climate services were officially born. Just as we depend on all sorts of weather services, soon — if we are successful in our efforts — we can expect a range of science-based …

It is an honor for me to be here today on behalf of President Obama at the third World Climate Conference. In just over six months, President Obama has dramatically shifted US policy on climate change. He has emphasized that good government depends on good science, and that the scientific evidence of climate change is …

We gather here this week because we have a shared challenge. It has taken decades of outstanding and Nobel prize-winning climate science to bring it into view. It has taken the persistence of a community of researchers all over the world some who are represented here, It has taken the shepherding by international organizations many …

The climate challenge demands a genuinely global response. No one nation is responsible for it. No one nation possesses all the knowledge or know-how to confront it. Every nation is vulnerable to its impacts. The poor and developing countries are particularly vulnerable. So we must all work together to avoid the worst possible outcomes of …

Two U.S. government agencies, the U.S. Department of State and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), have pledged a total of $500,000 to support the conference. The United States will be represented at the conference by a multi-agency delegation headed by Dr. Jane Lubchenco, Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and NOAA …

U.S. Mission – Media Note May 5, 2009 U.S. Announces Contribution to Support the World Climate Conference-3 (WCC3) Funding will be provided by the U.S. State Department and NOAA The United States has announced that it will make a contribution to support the World Climate Conference-3 (WCC3) which will be held in Geneva from August …

The United States has announced that it will make a contribution to support the World Climate Conference-3 (WCC3) which will be held in Geneva from August 31 to September 4, 2009. The aim of the WCC3 is to establish an international framework to guide the development and dissemination of climate services which will link science-based …

With the flip of a switch on Earth Day, April 22, 2009, the United States Mission in Geneva will take another step to consolidate its standing as the U.S. State Department’s greenest diplomatic building. On that date the U.S. Mission — already home to a major solar electric system — will bring on-line an innovative …