U.S. Will Lead on Warming, Clinton Tells Forum of Top CO2 Emitters

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a gathering of the world’s leading greenhouse gas emitters that the U.S. is “fully engaged and ready to lead” at global warming talks this December in Copenhagen. Speaking before the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate in Washington, Clinton told delegates from the European Union, China, India, Japan, Russia, and other nations that “the president and his entire administration are committed to addressing this issue and we will act.” While acknowledging that the U.S. and other industrialized nations have been responsible for most of the planet’s man-made greenhouse gas emissions, she said she hoped that developing countries would agree to some limits on their emissions and work to elevate their peoples’ living standards without relying as heavily on fossil fuels. Clinton said that recent actions by the U.S. government — including a ruling by the Environmental Protection Agency that greenhouse gases can be regulated under the Clean Air Act — are a “decisive break with past policy.” Referring to the lack of action on climate change by the Bush administration, Clinton said, “The United States is no longer absent without leave.”