Arnie opens climate summit
2008-11-19 08:24
Beverly Hills - Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger opened his international climate change summit on Tuesday by upstaging himself with an even bigger political star - President-elect Barack Obama.
Schwarzenegger, a Republican whose efforts to combat global warming in California have generated worldwide acclaim, wants to show that governments can balance environmental protection and economic growth. He hopes his summit will influence negotiations over a new climate treaty during a UN gathering in Poland next month.
In a taped message to attendees, Obama said his administration is committed to a cause that has all but languished at the federal level during the term of President George W Bush.
"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," Obama said.
UN negotiators have a December 2009 deadline to complete the next global warming treaty, which would succeed the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. That treaty, which expires in 2012, does not include the US or China - the world's largest emitters.
Negotiators want to cut in half the amount of carbon dioxide discharged into the atmosphere from transportation, industry and power generation by mid-century.
In his roughly four-minute address to Schwarzenegger's conference, Obama said the US economy would continue to weaken if climate change and dependence on foreign oil are not addressed.
Millions of new jobs
He reiterated his support for cutting greenhouse gas emissions using a cap-and-trade system, an approach also favoured by Schwarzenegger. Obama said he would establish annual targets to reduce emissions to their 1990 levels by 2020 and reduce them another 80% by 2050.
Obama also promoted anew his proposal to invest $15bn each year to support private-sector efforts toward clean energy. He said tackling climate change can create millions of new jobs as the US invests in technologies to promote solar and wind power, biofuels and cleaner coal-fired plants.
"I promise you this: When I am president, any governor who's willing to promote clean energy will have a partner in the White House," Obama told the participants. "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."
Scientists say the kind of ambitious goals set by Schwarzenegger and Obama must be reached to minimise the consequences of rising global temperatures.
The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has said temperatures worldwide could increase between -15° and -11° by 2100 unless nations reduce their emissions.
Just how countries will cut emissions remains a topic of intense debate, especially as the world grapples with the worsening financial crisis. US and foreign businesses, as well as some European countries, have questioned whether cutting emissions will be too costly.
Schwarzenegger said states, provinces and countries can cut emissions by forming partnerships, as he has done as governor.
"I still have friends in the business world that come to me and say that this is going to hurt the economy," Schwarzenegger said in his opening remarks. "But of course, we believe very strongly it is going to help the economy."
Associated Press Writer Liz Sidoti in Washington, DC, contributed to this report.
- AP