U.S. to Host Forum on Climate Change

By IAN TALLEY

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. will host a meeting of major economies in April in an effort to lay the diplomatic foundation for an international agreement on climate change and energy later this year.
By convening a meeting of the world's largest greenhouse-gas emitters, President Barack Obama hopes to help create political momentum for an agreement to be signed at the United Nations climate-change negotiations in Copenhagen in December.
Although few international climate-change experts think a final accord will be signed at the Copenhagen talks, many expect that with U.S. leadership, the meeting will be able to forge a document of foundational principles for a post-Kyoto Protocol agreement. That international agreement, adopted in 1997, establishes legally binding commitments for participating nations to reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions.
The meeting, to be held in Washington on April 27-28, will "advance the exploration of concrete initiatives and joint ventures that increase the supply of clean energy while cutting greenhouse-gas emissions," the White House said in a statement Saturday.
The leaders of 17 major economies, including the U.S., China and the U.K., are expected to discuss emission targets, technology funding, sectoral agreements, deforestation, trade tariffs and other issues that deal with cutting greenhouse gases without severely damping economic growth and creating an unsustainable international program. The preparatory sessions in Washington will culminate in a meeting in Italy in July.
Earlier this month, the president's proposed fiscal 2010 budget outlined emission-reduction targets of 14% below 2005 levels by 2020 and of 83% by 2050. While developing nations such as China are seeking more lenient targets—and there is general agreement among the Obama administration and European Union leaders that such nations should bear a lighter load in earlier years—some EU ministers are calling for much higher cuts for developed nations.
The U.S.'s top climate envoy said earlier this month that the U.S. target is politically realistic, and said such realism needs to be a theme in discussions.
U.S. officials said they think it is unlikely Congress will sign a climate bill into law before Copenhagen. But analysts said the White House is hoping to have something substantial to lay on the table that would give the U.S. negotiating leverage. One option would be to officially classify carbon dioxide as a danger to public health and welfare, which would trigger regulation of emissions across the economy. The Environmental Protection Agency took a step in that direction this month.
Write to Ian Talley at ian.talley@dowjones.com