US president Barack Obama is to pledge a 17 percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions in the US by 2020.The offer will be made when the president flies into Copenhagen on December 9th for UN climate talks, which are to be held from December 7th to December 18th.Despite flying into the Danish capital, the president is not expected to remain in Copenhagen to attend important final stages of the discussions. The White House has yet to confirm that Mr Obama will return for the vital talks, after he flies to Oslo in Norway to pick up the Nobel peace Prize on December 10th.More than 60 world leaders, including British prime minister Gordon Brown, are to attend the meeting to discuss a replacement for the 1997 Kyoto protocol, with crucial decisions to be concluded on December 18th.UN climate chief Yvo de Boer said: "I think it's critical that president Obama attend the climate change summit in Copenhagen. We have figures from all industrialised countries, with the exception of the United States. This is the first thing we need, and this is critical."White House officials said the US would also pledge to reduce emissions by 30 percent for 2025, 42 percent by 2030 and 83 percent by 2050, based on emissions in 2005.In contrast the EU has pledged to make cuts of 20 percent by 2020 on 1990 levels or 30 percent if a global deal is struck.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8378890.stm
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