The United states has confirmed that it will come to Copenhagen with a target to cut its carbon emissions – something it has not previously committed to – in a move that is being seen as evidence of America's commitment to a deal.

 

Todd Stern, the State Department climate change envoy, told The Observer newspaper at the weekend that the US was considering a 'provisional target' at Copenhagen. 'What we are looking at is to see whether we could put down essentially a provisional number that would be contingent on our legislation,' he told the paper in Copenhagen.

 

The Observer speculated that the US would present a range of reductions from 14% - President Barack Obama's pre-election commitment – to 20%, which is cut being debated by the Senate in a bill currently passing through the legislature.

 

The following day unnamed US officials told The Guardian that President Obama would propose the targets before the climate meeting that begins on 7 December.

 

'The one thing the President has made clear is we want to take action consistent with the legislative process,' the official said. '[We] don't want to get out ahead or be at odds with what can be produced through legislation.'

 

After the Kyoto Protocol, which laid out the emissions cut targets that expire in 2012 was signed 12 years ago, the US Administration had put forward targets that Congress would have refused to ratify.

 

Many observers believe that a decision by the US putting a number on the table is crucial to the success of Copenhagen. Fredrik Reinfeldt, the Swedish prime minister, said it was 'untenable' that neither the US nor China, the world’s other biggest polluter, would arrive without convincing emissions targets. 'It provides no global answer. It does not solve the threat of climate change,' he wrote on an EU website.

 

The Independent has detected a new atmosphere which suggests that a 'significant agreement' can still be achieved. In an analysis piece Environment Editor Michael McCarthy pointed out that three big countries - Russia, South Korea and Brazil - have made major new pledges to cut their emissions of carbon dioxide from industry, transport and deforestation which is causing climate change.

 

'It is looking increasingly likely this week that the US will after all put an emissions target on the table, resolving what we characterised here last week as President Barack Obama's lonely dilemma – can he act ahead of the Senate, where US climate legislation is currently stalled?' he wrote.

 

Related links

Barack Obama ready to offer target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, Guardian 22 November 2009

US to go to Copenhagen summit with proposed target on carbon emissions, Guardian 24 November 2009

US to present emissions target before Copenhagen, Telegraph 23 November 2009

Countdown to Copenhagen: A change in the political climate on emissions, The Independent 23 November 2009