Obama to Pop in to COP15

US President Barack Obama has announced he will attend next month's key climate change summit - but only at the start of the talks.

Barack Obama at the White House this November (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

November 26, 2009

DIS students will have an opportunity to glimpse Barack Obama in Copenhagen, for the second time in as many months, when the US president attends the COP15 climate conference in early December.

Obama revealed his plan to pop in on COP15, before continuing to Oslo to collect the Nobel peace prize the following day. The presence of Obama gives the COP15 summit a welcomed boost, especially as he is expected to table a proposal to cut US greenhouse gas emissions by 17%, compared to 2005 amounts, by 2020.

The timing of Obama’s visit at the start of the conference, although hailed by UN climate chief, Yvo de Boer, has been dismissed in other quarters, with a Greenpeace spokesperson describing it as a ‘photo opportunity’ adding that Obama will be in the ‘right city at the wrong time’. WWF-US climate program director, Keya Chatterjee called for Obama to remain willing to return to the conference during the final days if a global deal seems possible.

Undeniably, Obama’s presence on the final two days of the summit on December 17 and 18 – the period when the majority of world leaders should be at the talks, and when a possible international deal might materialize – would have potentially been more effective. But that now seems unlikely.

The US target of a 17% decrease below 2005 levels by 2020 has also come under fire for being insufficient, particularly in comparison to the EU’s intention to reduce emissions by 20% by 2020 (on 1990 levels) or by 30% should a global deal be reached.