Obama announces ambitious CO2 cuts to improve air quality

The US president has pledged to cut America's CO2 emissions by 83 per cent over the next 40 years.

In a statement issued by the White House, Barack Obama confirmed that he will be attending next month's UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen and is intending to push for a "comprehensive and operational" agreement at the summit.

Obama has also made it clear that the US will put forward an emission reduction target of 17 per cent over 2005 levels by 2020, on the condition that other heavy polluters such as China also commit to "robust mitigation contributions".

In addition to the president, a number of top officials from the US administration will also travel to the Danish capital for the conference that begins on December 7th.

Earlier this week the environment commissioner for the EU commented that, if the US set a definite emissions reduction target, it would have a positive effect on negotiations at the summit, according to a Reuters report.

Speaking in the European Parliament, Stavros Dimas said: "A positive stance from the US would have spill-over effects on other countries in terms of improving the prospects of success at Copenhagen."

Posted by Joseph Hutton