19 Nov : Promising a USD 15 billion annual catalyst investment fund to build a clean energy future, President-elect Barack Obama has sought help from countries like India to launch a "new era" of global cooperation to combat climate change.
"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 in the process," Obama said in a surprise video message to a bi-partisan Governors’ Global Climate Summit in Los Angeles.
"Too often, Washington has failed to show the same kind of leadership. That will change when I take office."
The Democrat, who had made climate change a major issue in his historic run for the White House, said his administration will start with a federal cap and trade system.
"We will establish 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," he said.
The US will invest USD 15 billion annually to catalyse private sector efforts to build a clean energy future, Obama said.
"The science is beyond dispute and the facts are clear. Sea levels are rising. Coastlines are shrinking," he said and pointed out that Washington alone cannot combat climate change.
"The truth is, the US cannot meet this challenge alone. Solving this problem will require all of us working together."
Obama noted that the US delegation to next month’s UN Climate Change Conference in Poznan, Poland would also have a chance to meet government officials from over a dozen countries there, including the UK, Canada and Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Poland and Australia, India and Indonesia.