Obama to host April climate-change forum
Aims to get ball rolling for Copenhagen treaty
Last Updated: Saturday, March 28, 2009 | 7:30 PM ET

U.S. President Barack Obama will host a summit of world leaders in
April to help forge a UN agreement on global warming, the White House
said Saturday.

The April 27-28 summit, labelled by the White House as the Major
Economies Forum on Energy and Climate, will include 16 major
economies.

The White House said in a statement the Washington summit "will
facilitate a candid dialogue among key developed and developing
countries, [and] help generate the political leadership necessary to
achieve a successful outcome at the UN climate change negotiations."

World leaders will meet in Copenhagen in December in an effort to
produce a UN treaty on climate change to replace the Kyoto protocol,
which expires in 2012.

Canada is among the countries invited to the forum. Environment
Minister Jim Prentice has said Canada's environmental policies will
mirror those of the Obama administration.

The Conservatives have said they plan to lower greenhouse gases by
three per cent from 1990 levels by 2020, or 20 per cent from 2006
levels over that same period.

Obama has established a similar goal of reducing greenhouse gases to
1990 levels by 2020.

The Kyoto protocol, in contrast, sets out an agenda for reducing
greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2 per cent from 1990 levels, although
"economies in transition," like Russia, can pick different base years.
Canada had initially signed on, but the Harper government abandoned
its targets in 2006.

Talks to focus on clean energy, emissions
The U.S., which initially signed on to the 1997 Kyoto accord, later
backed out under the presidency of George W. Bush. Obama has signalled
he is ready for a shift in U.S. environmental policy, prioritizing
clean energy and slashing greenhouse gas emissions through a cap-and-
trade program.

April's meeting will focus on these two priorities, the White House
said.

The announcement came as millions around the world turned off their
lights Saturday to mark Earth Hour, and a day before 190 countries are
set to meet in Germany to lay some of the groundwork for the
Copenhagen summit.

The following countries will be invited to the April forum: Australia,
Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, India,
Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, the
United Kingdom, and the United States.

Denmark, host of December's Copenhagen summit, and the United Nations
have also been invited.