US willpresent target for emissions
The president will attend the summit on December 9 before heading to Norway's capital Oslo to accept the Nobel peace prize. Obama's attendance had been in question until now.
The conference had originally been intended to produce a new global climate change treaty on limiting emissions of greenhouse gases that would replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.
But hopes for a legally binding agreement have dimmed, with leaders saying the summit is more likely to produce a template for future action to cut emissions blamed for global warming.
Yvo de Boer, UN climate treaty chief, said yesterday: "It is critical that President Obama attend the climate change summit in Copenhagen. The world is very much looking to the US to come forward with an emission reduction target and contribute financial support to help developing countries."
Though Obama tried to tamp down expectations during his eight-day trip to Asia earlier this month, he also called on world leaders to come to an agreement that has "immediate operational effect" and is not just a political declaration.
US officials said earlier this week that Obama will present a target for reducing carbon dioxide emissions at the summit.
The development came as the EU urged the US and China to deliver greenhouse gas emissions targets at the summit, saying their delays were hindering efforts to curb climate change.
The administration has indicated for nearly a year that it would eventually produce specific targets for quick reductions in pollution that causes global warming, as part of international negotiations. Those targets will soon be made public, officials said.
This will be Obama's second trip to Denmark this year. He made a short trip to Copenhagen on October 2 to make a vain pitch for 2016 Summer Olympics in Chicago during a meeting of the International Olympic Committee.
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