Articles | Obama vows climate change action

Obama vows climate change action

Published: Wednesday, 19 November 2008, 7:24AM

Barack Obama has pledged the United States will "engage vigorously" in climate change talks when he is president, despite the financial crisis.

The Democratic president-elect, who regularly criticised the Bush administration's attitude toward global warming, said he will work to reduce emissions sharply by 2020.

In a video address to a global warming summit, Mr Obama also reiterated his plans to start a "cap and trade" system that limits carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from big industries.

"We will establish strong annual targets that set us on a course to reduce emissions to their 1990 levels by 2020 and reduce them by an additional 80 per cent by 2050," he said.

"My presidency will mark a new chapter in America's leadership on climate change that will strengthen our security and create millions of new jobs in the process."

Mr Obama said he would not attend UN-sponsored climate talks in Poland in December as President George W Bush will still be in office.

But he sent a message to international delegates who have spent years battling Bush representatives over targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and halt global warming.

"Once I take office, you can be sure that the United States will once again engage vigorously in these negotiations and help lead the world toward a new era of global cooperation on climate change," Mr Obama said.

The president-elect said he asked members of the US Congress who would be present in Poland to report back to him.

European nations have pushed the United States for years to show more leadership on climate change so that China and India, developing nations whose emissions are outpacing the developed world's, will follow suit.