UN Welcomes Obama Climate Plan

UN leaders are thrilled that the president-elect of the United States is making climate change a priority and has already pledged to reduce emissions sharply by 2020.

The head of the U.N. Climate Change said on Wednesday it’s a “huge signal" of encouragement to countries negotiating a new climate pact.

On Tuesday Obama said the United States would engage vigorously in climate change talks when he is president, and he wants to work to reduce emissions sharply by 2020, despite the financial crisis.

"I think that will have a very positive influence on the negotiations," Yvo de Boer, who heads the Secretariat, told Reuters in Algeria. "He indicated that he intends to show national and international leadership.

"I think that that statement will be seen as a huge signal of encouragement to the international community," he said during an African environment conference.

De Boer said U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases are 14 percent above their 1990 levels but it was possible to reach the deadline.

He said, "I think it’s feasible. It’s a challenge, but it’s doable."

Under the Kyoto Protocol, 37 developed nations have agreed to cut emissions by 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2008-2012.

Nations want to agree on a new accord to follow Kyoto at a summit in Copenhagen in late 2009. However, pressure for poor countries to agree to cuts, is fuelling tensions between rich and poor groupings in the talks.

Experts says Africa, where nearly three quarters of people rely on agriculture, is least able to adapt to the severe weather changes forecast to be triggered by global warming.

"We really need to use the Copenhagen opportunity to design a regime that is more Africa-friendly," de Boer said.

"African nations have actually been quite modest in the negotiations so far. This meeting in Algeria provides an opportunity for 53 African countries to really develop a collective position and that will give them important negotiating strength in the process," de Boer said.