"President-elect Obama's goal of reducing emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 falls short of the response needed by world leaders to meet the challenge of reducing emissions to levels that will actually spare us the worst effects of climate change," said Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), at a Worldwatch Institute event.
In a new study on the state of the world in 2009, the institute argues that global CO2 emissions must be reduced to negative figures by 2050 to avoid a looming climate catastrophe.
It calls on the US, a major polluter, to assume leadership by passing national climate legislation and engaging with the international community to achieve a new agreement on halting emissions at next December's talks in Copenhagen.
"The world is desperately looking for US leadership to slow emissions and create a green economy," said Christopher Flavin, president of the Worldwatch Institute. "With the Copenhagen climate conference rapidly approaching, this will be a crucial early test for President Obama."
Pachauri warned that there may not be an "adequate global response" unless the US steps up to the plate. "He ran for the presidency of the United States, so he assumed the responsibility," the Nobel Prize recipient commented as to the weight of Obama's task.
Meanwhile, in a hearing last week, Steven Chu, Obama's designated secretary of energy, told the US Senate he believed the incoming president's plan for emission reductions was "aggressive". It includes a greater commitment to renewable energies and promotion of energy efficiency, as well as a cap-and-trade system for greenhouse gases and continued development of nuclear power. He stated the plan would set the US on the right path to "a better energy and environmental future," while creating new jobs and restoring US leadership in energy technology.
In recent years, most initiatives on climate protection have come from the EU, which set the standards with its emissions trading scheme. Obama has, however, been touted for his more stringent targets and commitment to engaging in international climate negotiations after the Bush administration failed to sign the Kyoto protocol.
In a keynote speech to the Senate, Hillary Clinton, Obama's nominee for secretary of state, emphasised that she would "renew America's leadership through diplomacy". She said America would lead both at home and abroad on climate issues, by participating in the UN climate conference to develop a coordinated international response and by pursuing a low-carbon energy policy.
