Obama talks about his climate-change commitment

Auckland News.Net
Tuesday 18th November, 2008

President-elect, Barack Obama, in unveiling a $15 billion annual investment plan to build a clean energy future, said his presidency would engage vigorously in negotiations on climate change.

Speaking to the Bi-Partisan Governors Global Climate Summit in Los Angeles, he said in a video message: "The truth is, the United States cannot meet this climate challenge alone. Solving this problem will require all of us working together."

Saying that Washington had often failed to show the kind of leadership needed to tackle the important issue, Obama said his administration would start with a federal cap and trade system, to establish strong annual targets "that set us on a course to reduce emissions to their 1990 levels by 2020 and reduce them an additional 80 percent by 2050."

He said his administration would invest $15 billion each year to catalyse the private sector into building a clean energy future.

The climate change meeting was opened by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, who told attendees they could protect both the environment and their economies.

The two-day summit has drawn governors from 22 key US states, as well as top government officials and scientists from several countries including India, China, Brazil, Britain, Canada, Indonesia and Australia.

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