Obama's Forward Motion on Climate Solutions

President Obama Barack Obama, affirming again his commitment to substantively address the climate crisis, led the leaders of the European Union and 15 nations to join the United States in issuing a joint declaration today that promises to "spare no effort to reach agreement in Copenhagen," the site of the next United Nations Climate Change Conference in December. The joint declaration also committed the nations to develop long term economic strategies to reduce carbon pollution and to immediately take appropriate and ambitious actions.

President Obama brings G8 leaders together in pursuit of a new energy economy

The declaration came a week after 47 US organizations representing faith, youth, relief and development and environmental groups urged President Obama to pursue an ambitious and science-based statement in Copenhagen.

The countries that agreed to the statement said they recognized both the threat and the opportunity the climate crisis presents and vowed to meet the challenge. The declaration stated that "moving to a low-carbon economy is an opportunity to promote continued economic growth and sustainable development, that the need for and deployment of transformational clean energy technologies at lowest possible cost are urgent."

Guided by a scientific goal of keeping temperature rises below 2 degrees C and 3.6F, they agreed to keep working together to reach a decision on a specific and measurable global goal to reduce carbon pollution.

"While the leaders of these largest economies did not reach agreement on some critical details, they all agreed to do their part," said Angela Anderson, program director at the U.S. Climate Action Network. "Specific actions and commitments are critical and must be measured against what science demands. But all in all, they have gotten off to a good step in the direction of creating a new energy economy that both creates jobs and protects us from dangerous climate change."

More information on international climate negotiations »

Other Assessments

President Barack Obama: "Ultimately, we have a choice.  We can either shape our future, or we can let events shape it for us.  We can fall back on the stale debates and old divisions, or we can decide to move forward and meet this challenge together.  I think it's clear from our progress today which path is preferable and which path we have chosen.  We know that the problems we face are made by human beings.  That means it's within our capacity to solve them.  The question is whether we will have the will to do so, whether we'll summon the courage and exercise the leadership to chart a new course.  That's the responsibility of our generation, that must be our legacy for generations to come, and I am
looking forward to being a strong partner in this effort."

White House Fact Sheet:  "MEF Leaders underscored their commitment to continue to work together to strengthen the world’s ability to combat climate change and to facilitate agreement in Copenhagen. The Leaders recognized that climate change poses a clear and present danger requiring an extraordinary global response, and outlined a series of steps to meet this challenge head on."

Jake Schmidt, NRDC Switchboard: "A number of countries have set forth an objective to hold global temperatures to less than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit).  But notably the US, Japan, Russia, and Canada had refused in the past to set forth that "yardstick" as the aim of the worlds efforts to solve global warming.  It took a little nudging -- including a letter from the CEOs of 47 major US organizations to President Obama -- but this "yardstick" is now committed to in the G8 agreement and is included in the Major Economies Forum statement."

Alden Meyer, (ameyer@ucsusa.org), Union of Concerned Scientists: "Obama's announcement raises the  stakes considerably for near-term progress on climate finance.  Here  are a few of the reasons why:

• The issue is now strongly on the G-20 summit agenda, which it  wasn't before yesterday;
• Finance ministers will have to agree on serious proposals to put before the heads of state, and because it's the G-20, not the G-8,  the big developing countries have a lot of leverage;
• The meeting is being chaired by President Obama in the US, which puts pressure on the administration to get real movement on the  issue (and to try to bring Congress along);
• The meeting happens just days before the German elections on September 27, which puts pressure on Chancellor Merkel to support something meaningful;
• There may be a new government in Japan by then (our Japanese colleagues can comment on the likely timing and outlook for the  elections, and the implications if the DPJ takes over from the LDP);
• There will be mass civil society media and mobilization activities in the US and other countries, around both the G-20 
• summit and the UN High-level heads of state meeting two days before.

In short, the issue will be teed up in a very powerful way."