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