President Obama 'still undecided' about attending Copenhagen climate conference

Giles Whittell in Washington

The White House yesterday kept alive campaigners’ hopes that President Obama could travel to the UN climate change summit in Copenhagen despite the slim chances of a comprehensive deal being signed there.
Responding to a report in The Times that a presidential appearance was highly unlikely given the obstacles to a breakthrough at the meeting, an Administration spokesman insisted that “no decision has been made”.
Washington’s official stance on who will represent the US in Copenhagen was set out last week by Todd Stern, the Administration’s special envoy on climate change, who left open the possibility of a last-minute decision by the President to attend depending on what was achieved during and in the run-up to the conference.
“These meetings are always structured… to be held at ministerial level,” Mr Stern said in London. “We are not writing anything off or foreclosing possibilities but we treat this as a ministerial meeting in the first instance and if the kind of progress is made that would warrant the attendance of leaders then certainly we would consider that.”
Privately, experts both inside and outside the Administration have been downplaying the chances of a Denmark trip by the President on the basis that it would be too much of a political risk without a major deal in prospect or already agreed.
He was rebuffed by the International Olympic Committee in Copenhagen when he flew there this month to try to win the 2016 Games for Chicago – a bid that had nothing to do with climate change but could all too easily be bracketed with it by his opponents.
No US President has attended a UN climate change conference before. A decision by Mr Obama to break with precedent and make an appearance was considered plausible while a deal to create a successor to the Kyoto Protocol was a likely outcome of the December meeting.
The continued refusal by China and India to consider binding limits to their national carbon footprints, and delays in passing a US climate change bill, have all but ruled out such a deal. The headline achievements at Copenhagen are likely to be less sweeping and more practical, with negotiators focusing on specific issues such as energy efficiency, forest protection and reforestation, and renewable energy supplies.
The US delegation under Mr Stern will draw attention to the Administration’s achievements so far, including passage of a climate change bill in the House of Representatives and new car emissions standards.
Whether or not he goes to Copenhagen, Mr Obama “clearly is determined to revolutionise the US posture on climate change and energy,” Paul Bledsoe of the National Commission on Energy Policy said.