A White House official tells TPMDC President Obama will attend the climate talks in Copenhagen on Dec. 9. The trip coincides with Obama’s acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo.
In addition to the president’s address, the White House will send a large delegation, including Obama’s “Green Cabinet” who aim to “maximize” chances of success at Copenhagen.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters the move would “give momentum” to the U.S. position on climate talks.
EPA administrator Carol Browner told reporters he would lay out clear goals for cutting carbon emissions, in metrics that are “fairly similar” to the bill which passed the House and what is being considered by the Senate.
Browner said Obama will lay out a U.S. goal “in the range of” cutting emissions by 17 percent by 2020, by 30 percent by 2025 and by 42 percent by 2030. Obama’s overall goal is an 83 percent reduction by 2050, she said.
Browner said the cost of the carbon reductions is about $173 per family annually, starting in 2020.
Reporters asked her about British emails suggesting climate change effects were trumped up.
At first she said, “I’ve read them I don’t know that I have a reaction,” but pressed further, she said she’d rather trust 2,500 scientists than some “naysayers.”
Those scientists “agree the problem is real,” she said.
