As International Pressure Mounts, Obama Sets U.S. Emissions Reduction Target for 2020
December 3, 2009 Kyriaki (Sandy) Venetis 
Graphic courtesy of webwombat.com.
Possibly resulting from ongoing criticisms from the international community, most notably from members of the European Union, the United States has finally set an emissions reduction target for 2020.
The White House has both confirmed that President Barack Obama will be attending United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen on Dec. 9, and that the U.S. will work to reduce emissions to “17 percent below 2005 levels in 2020.”
While hopes for a large-scale binding climate change agreement in Copenhagen seen to be fading with the U.S. Congress having yet to pass a climate bill, and other major industrialized countries refusing to make firm commitments of their own, there is a bright spot in that attention is being drawn to the issue, and smaller scale partnerships are beginning to take shape.
Last week, Obama and India’s Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh agreed to launch a Clean Energy and Climate Initiative. It will include cooperation between the two countries in the areas of “wind and solar energy, second generation bio-fuels, unconventional gas, energy efficiency, and clean coal technologies, including carbon capture and storage.”