Obama Decision To Attend Copenhagen

For Immediate Release

Obama Decision To Attend Copenhagen Climate Negotiations On December 18th Brightens Prospects For Success, Science Group Says

Statement By Alden Meyer, Union Of Concerned Scientists

COPENHAGEN (December 4, 2009) – The White House today announced that President Obama will attend the international climate negotiations in Copenhagen on December 18, when national leaders from around the world will be in attendance. Previously the president was planning to go to the meeting earlier, before many of the leaders planned to arrive. The fact that the president has decided to go later has buoyed the hopes of many who want to see the world community agree to take concrete steps to address global warming.

Below is a statement by Alden Meyer, director of strategy and policy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, who is in Copenhagen for the meeting:

“The president’s decision to come at the end of the Copenhagen negotiations on December 18 means he will be here in person with other world leaders to seal the deal, not just to present the U.S. position.

“The White House announcement that the United States will ‘pay its fair share’ of a $10- billion-per-year prompt-start financing package for developing countries to deal with the impacts of climate change, reduce deforestation, and deploy clean energy technologies is also welcome news.

“There is still a long way to go to secure a fair and ambitious climate deal here in Copenhagen, but today’s decision clearly increases the prospects for a successful outcome.”

Now celebrating its 40th anniversary, the Union of Concerned Scientists is the leading U.S. science-based nonprofit organization working for a healthy environment and a safer world. UCS is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and also has offices in Berkeley, Chicago and Washington, D.C. For more information, go to wwwucsusa.org.

ENDS