Climate change needs US leadership

At the G20 summit, Obama must go beyond his UN climate speech and fully commit to leading the climate change fight
As world leaders gather to discuss climate change, they are meeting in two metaphorically apt locations. On Tuesday, it was on the island of Manhattan, at a major climate summit at the United Nations. Later this week it's in Pittsburgh, a city famously known for its three rivers, for the G20 summit on the economy.
If nothing else focuses the minds of these leaders on the urgent challenge of climate change, these locations should. An island and a city in the midst of rivers should remind them that we are all in this together when it comes to the rising waters, literally and otherwise, brought about by global warming.
These venues should especially remind us what faces the world's poorest people, who are least to blame for the climate crisis but are being hit first and hardest by rising sea levels, intensifying storms and declining fresh water supplies.
As the host, officially at the G20 and less formally in New York, Barack Obama has a special role to play in reminding his colleagues of the consequences of this moment. While he is focused on an enormous fight over healthcare in Congress, as well as other pressing issues, he has a key opportunity to reshape the international and US debate on climate issues.
At his first speech at the UN, Obama struck the right notes, but it remains to be seen whether he and Congress can make music with meaning in the next few months.
He can't avoid playing a major role much longer. Not only are we are at a crossroads headed towards negotiations on a new global climate deal in Copenhagen in December, but other countries are increasingly demonstrating their readiness to act. China is stepping up on emission reductions, and India is putting the building blocks in place for national climate action. Many vulnerable countries, from Ethiopia to Bangladesh, are mobilising their efforts to adapt to the increasing impacts they are facing.
Developed countries are now on the hook to show what they can do. That requires not only domestic emission cuts, but also a global investment by rich countries so that a broad range of developing countries have the necessary resources for actions to reduce emissions and to adapt in the face of immediate climate impacts. This is not about handouts, but rather creating a whole approach to addressing this massive global challenge.
The European Union and Japan are taking some steps in the right direction on these climate finance issues. Both have reiterated their commitment to financing for adaptation and mitigation needs, but even the top end of the EU's estimates – $70bn annually – are under half of what's needed, and it's not clear this money would be additional to existing development aid commitments.
Together with other developed country leaders, Obama can – and should – step more forcefully in Pittsburgh. What's needed is a commitment that the US will play a leadership role by making a substantial investment in a global effort on climate change. The president should also make clear that a major leap forward is needed in Copenhagen. And he can join other leaders, like Gordon Brown and Meles Zenawi, the prime minister of Ethiopia, in declaring their intention to personally attend the Copenhagen negotiations.
Climate change is a global problem that requires a global solution. Developing countries, not least the US, are facing a moment of truth. This is a time to go beyond rhetoric. Will rich countries take on their appropriate role and lead the way in pursuing that global solution? If they're unsure whether to make that leap, they should look at their watery surroundings in New York and Pittsburgh and remember the consequences if they fail to act.