Obama pledges urgent action on climate change

Nov 18, 2008, 22:44 GMT

Los Angeles - US president-elect Barack Obama on Tuesday pledged urgent action to implement the climate and clean-energy policies he laid out in his campaign, telling a meeting of state governors that 'delay is no longer an option.'

Obama pledged to spend 15 billion dollars a year to help US industry develop clean energy technology and to institute a cap-and- trade system to reduce carbon emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.

'This investment will not only help us reduce our dependence on foreign oil, making the United States more secure,' Obama said in a prerecorded message to the Bi-Partisan Governors Global Climate Summit in Los Angeles. 'It will also help us transform our industries and steer our country out of this economic crisis.'

Obama called the discussions at the United Nations Climate Change Conference next month in Poland 'vital to the planet' and said he would follow the talks closely.

In a sharp contrast to the current administration, Obama said the science behind global warming is 'beyond dispute.'

'Now is the time to confront this challenge once and for all,' he said. 'Denial is no longer an acceptable response. The stakes are too high, the consequences too serious.'

Obama's comments, among his first specific policy statements since he won the November 4 elections, signified the degree of importance he attaches to the issue, analysts said.

'Few challenges facing America and the world are more urgent than combating climate change,' Obama said. 'The science is beyond dispute, and the facts are clear. Sea levels are rising. Coastlines are shrinking. We've seen record drought, spreading famine, and storms that are growing stronger with each passing hurricane season.'

Specifically he promised to set 'strong annual targets that set us on a course to reduce emissions to their 1990 levels by 2020, and reduce them an additional 80 per cent by 2050.'

California approved similar emission reductions in 2006, and Obama commended the state executives, led by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who have been at the forefront of actions to limit climate change. 'Too often, Washington has failed to show the same kind of leadership,' Obama said.

'That will change when I take office. My presidency will mark a new chapter in America's leadership on climate change that will strengthen our security and create millions of new jobs. When I am president, any governor who's willing to promote clean energy will have a partner in the White House. Any company that's willing to invest in clean energy will have an ally in Washington. And any nation that's willing to join the cause of combating climate change will have an ally in the United States of America.'

Speaking after Obama's address, Schwarzenegger called for urgent action. 'We have been the biggest polluter in the world,' Schwarzenegger said. 'And it's about time we as a country recognize that.'