The President switches his visit date

Dec 5, 2009 11:05 GMT  ·  By
Obama will attend the UN Climate Summit starting December 18, the White House announces
   Obama will attend the UN Climate Summit starting December 18, the White House announces

US President Barack Obama has announced for a long time that he will be attending this year's UN Climate Summit, held in Copenhagen, but he recently said that he would no longer attend the works. Rather, he will meet up with other leaders at the end of the conference, in the very last day. The purpose of the new summit is for nations to come to an agreement on a successor of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, and also to find solutions for long-term policies to mitigate global warming.

According to the White House, the schedule was changed because Obama believes that “progress […] has already been made to give momentum to negotiations.” Therefore, the US President will arrive in the Danish capital city on December 18, rather than December 9, as initially planned. Obama also believes “that continued US leadership can be most productive through his participation at the end of the Copenhagen conference,” the same White House statement says. It also adds that the decision was made after the President consulted with other leaders of the world, the BBC News reports.

Other representatives of the United States will, however, attend the conference throughout its duration. The White House is convinced that Obama's presence at the end of the summit will increase the international effort's chances of success. This is the last year when a worldwide agreement on global warming and climate change can be drawn. Any delays could see carbon dioxide levels spiraling out of control, and the bleakest predictions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) coming true.

Obama has already consulted on most of the issues to be raised at the summit with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. It is said that the partners agreed to start the $10-billion annual fund that developing countries were asking for, so that they were able to stop deforestation and other types of environmental damage. Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and Gordon Brown announced that they agreed with Obama's new schedule, and said that the delay could mean the difference between success and failure at the international talks.

“There are still outstanding issues that must be negotiated for an agreement to be reached, but this decision (to delay his arrival) reflects the president's commitment to doing all that he can to pursue a positive outcome,” the statement also says. “President Obama's presence is an expression of the growing political momentum towards sealing an ambitious climate deal in Copenhagen,” the Danish Prime Minister adds.

“After a global outcry, President Obama […] has come to his senses and accepted the importance of this potentially historic meeting,” the Greenpeace International Political Climate Coordinator, Martin Kaiser, shares.