December 16, 2009
Tue Dec 15, 2009 6:58pm EST
By Gerard Wynn and David Fogarty
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – President Barack Obama has expressed confidence a climate deal can be clinched as dozens of world leaders gather on Wednesday to try to break a deadlock at U.N. climate talks.
“The president believes that we can get an operational agreement that makes sense in Copenhagen,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told a briefing in Washington on Tuesday, three days before a deadline on a new U.N. deal to combat climate change.
Leaders including Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown were set to give speeches at the December 7-18 climate meeting, until now dominated by environment ministers.
The world leaders have until a main summit on Friday to agree a deal under a deadline set at a meeting in Bali, Indonesia, in 2007. Negotiations since Bali have been marred by mistrust between rich and poor nations.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wrote in an International Herald Tribune opinion piece on Tuesday that success in Copenhagen demanded that all major economies take decisive action and agree to a system that is transparent and trusted.
“The president believes that to get an agreement that is truly operational, that we have to have that — that transparency. That’s one of the things that he’ll work on as we go forward,” Gibbs said.
As the deadline approaches for a pact that would favor a shift to low-carbon businesses, some politicians are warning of the risks of failure in the 193-nation negotiations, even as they urge compromises to allow a breakthrough.
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Tags: climate deal, Copenhagen, obama, Reuters, white house
