A carbon target for Copenhagen

CLIMATE CHANGE was at the top of President Obama’s agenda in China Tuesday, just three weeks before representatives from 192 countries meet in Copenhagen for a much-anticipated international climate conference. And he came tantalizingly close to saying what the rest of the world has been waiting years to hear: that next month the United States, the largest per capita emitter of greenhouse gases, will finally come to the table with a specific carbon reduction target.

In a news conference after his meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao, Mr. Obama supported Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen’s proposal for a far-reaching political agreement at Copenhagen — one that “covers all of the issues in the negotiations, and one that has immediate operational effect.” And the joint statement that Mr. Obama and Mr. Hu released indicated that a Copenhagen agreement, while not legally binding, should “include emission reduction targets of developed countries and nationally appropriate mitigation actions of developing countries.”

The United States is the only developed country that has yet to announce a carbon target, even as developing economies such as Brazil have unveiled mitigation policies. China, meanwhile, has talked of a significant reduction in the carbon intensity of its industry, and Tuesday’s joint statement indicates it might enshrine that in an international agreement — a big step that probably depends on American movement.

Washington Post