20
November 2008 - U.S. President-elect Barack
Obama's latest speech on climate change
has been welcomed as "very meaningful"
by Achim Steiner, the Executive Director
of the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP).
In a video message to
an international conference on climate change
hosted by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
on 18 November, Mr. Obama said his presidency
"will mark a new chapter in America's
leadership on climate change".
Obama referred to the
upcoming climate convention in Poznan, Poland,
on 1-12 December, telling the delegates
to the conference that "your work is
vital to the planet".
"While I won't
be President at the time of your meeting
and while the United States has only one
President at a time, I've asked Members
of Congress who are attending the conference
as observers to report back to me on what
they learn there," he said. "And
once I take office, you can be sure that
the United States will once again engage
vigorously in these negotiations, and help
lead the world toward a new era of global
cooperation on climate change."
Mr. Steiner welcomed his
comments, saying that: "President-elect
Barack Obama yesterday confirmed that in
the coming months a fundamentally new climate
policy will define the position of the USA.
This is very meaningful, and not just for
the climate conventions. It is also a signal
that in spite of - or rather because of
- the current financial crisis, a greener
economic policy is finding new momentum."
The President-elect
said his administration will start with
a federal cap and trade system and annual
targets that will set the U.S. on a course
to reduce emissions to their 11000 levels
by 2020 and reduce them an additional 80
per cent by 2050.
He also announced that
his government will invest US$15 billion
each year in solar power, wind power and
next generation biofuels "to catalyze
private sector efforts to build a clean
energy future."
"When I am President,
any governor who's willing to promote clean
energy will have a partner in the White
House. Any company that's willing to invest
in clean energy will have an ally in Washington.
And any nation that's willing to join the
cause of combating climate change will have
an ally in the United States of America,"
he concluded.
Mr. Obama's remarks
were also welcomed by Yvo de Boer, Executive
Director of the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change - which is
leading the climate talks: "Obama indicated
that he wants to show leadership both domestically
and internationally," he told AP. "I
feel that's a very important signal of encouragement
for all of the countries in these negotiations."
"The lesson of
Kyoto is that we clearly need to find a
way forward that the United States is willing
to commit to," Mr. de Boer added.
