G-20, UN Climate Summits Huge Tests for Obama, World

WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 -- President Obama and foreign leaders meet in Pittsburgh for the G20 Summit and in New York City next week for a high-level UN Climate Summit to chart a new path for economic prosperity, clean energy development, and environmental security. Joining the leaders are finance ministers from the 20 largest economies. The fact that finance ministers will discuss climate finance for the first time on U.S. soil makes this week singularly important in the 20-year history of climate negotiations.

On September 14 experts from the US Climate Action Network, the largest network of organizations focused on climate change, previewed the week of huge tests - for the president, the economy, and our environment - and defined what success means for America and the world.

There is no way to underestimate the challenge faced by the president and the other heads of state.  It's important to note that the second of their meetings occurs in Pittsburgh, an apt example of the benefits of pursuing a new economic development strategy based on clean energy, energy efficiency, and reducing climate emissions. The world expects the president and the other leaders to do much of what Pittsburgh has started to achieve: Reaching agreement on actions that cool the planet, heat up the economy, and lead to a new era of safety and opportunity.

In the 20-plus years that scientists and diplomats have considered the consequences of a warming planet, there have been few more consequential weeks. The events next week in New York and Pittsburgh offer the president and the nation the momentous chance to build a clean energy industrial sector that provides millions of good new jobs and forms the foundation of our 21st century global economy. Americans support those goals. Next week could mark the moment when America and the world truly measured its massive environmental and economic challenges and set about meeting them.

PANELISTS INCLUDED:

Alden Meyer, Director of Strategy & Policy, Union of Concerned Scientists

Jessy Tolkan, Executive Director, Energy Action Coalition

David Waskow, Climate Change Program Director, Oxfam America

David Doniger, Policy Director, Climate Center, Natural Resources Defense Council

Joe Mendelson, Global Warming Policy Director, National Wildlife Federation

A recording of the statements and answers to reporters's questions is here:

RECORDING:

Download the MP3 Recording (59 mins.)