US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

29 April 2009

The US administration has taken a step towards a low carbon future by acknowledging its role in causing rising global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

Speaking at a climate change summit in the US, secretary of state Hillary Clinton told delegates from 17 of the world’s largest economies that they must work together to prevent global warming.

Ms Clinton responded to fears from developing economic superpowers that carbon dioxide emissions targets set by the western world would place a disproportionate burden on their shoulders.

“As I have told my counterparts from China and India, we want your economies to grow,” she said.

“We just hope we can work together in a way to avoid the mistakes that we made that have created a large part of the problem that we face today.”

However, Ms Clinton suggested that it will be harder for the developing world to raise its standard of living unless the challenge of climate change is first addressed.

Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Russia, South Africa and Britain all sent diplomats to the US conference, which was also attended by members of the European Commission and the United Nations (UN).

The meeting was touted as an important stepping stone on the path to Copenhagen, where officials will meet in December for the UN’s annual climate change summit.

It is intended that world leaders will take the opportunity to explore new initiatives and joint ventures at the conference, with the aim of increasing clean energy supplies and cutting CO2 emissions.

Source: http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2009a/04/122240.htm