WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama will go to Copenhagen next month, a White House official said Wednesday, to participate in a long-anticipated, high-stakes global climate summit....
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama will attend a widely anticipated global climate summit in Copenhagen next month to spell out the U.S. goal for curbing greenhouse gas emissions.
The president will take part in the conference on Dec. 9 before heading to Oslo to accept the Nobel Peace Prize. The White House announcement Wednesday ends heavy speculation about whether the president would go.
White House adviser Mike Froman said Obama made the decision to travel to Denmark "to give momentum to the negotiations there."
The president will lay out his goals for reducing the United States' carbon dioxide emissions, pledging to cut heat-trapping pollution by about 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020. That target reflects the still-unfinished climate legislation on Capitol Hill.
A House-passed bill would slash heat-trapping pollution somewhere in the range of 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020. A Senate bill seeks a 20 percent reduction over the next decade, but that number is likely to come down to win the votes of moderate Democrats.
