Associated Press, November 24, 3009 from Washington – this is still unofficial:

President Barack Obama will go to Copenhagen next month, a White House official said Wednesday, to participate in a long-anticipated, high-stakes global climate summit.

Mr. Obama will attend the summit on Dec. 9 before heading to Oslo to accept the Nobel Peace Prize, the official said. Mr. Obama’s attendance had been in question until now.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the formal announcement hasn’t been made.

The conference had originally been intended to produce a new global climate-change treaty on limiting emissions of greenhouse gases that would replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. However, hopes for a legally binding agreement have dimmed lately, with leaders saying the summit is more likely to produce a template for future action to cut emissions blamed for global warming.

While Mr. Obama himself tried to tamp down expectations during his eight-day trip to Asia earlier this month, he also called on world leaders to come to an agreement that has “immediate operational effect” and is not just a political declaration.

Obama administration officials said earlier this week that the U.S. will present a target for reducing carbon dioxide emissions at the summit. The development came as the European Union urged the U.S. and China to deliver greenhouse-gas emissions targets at the summit, saying their delays were hindering global efforts to curb climate change.

The administration has indicated that it would eventually come up with specific targets for quick reductions in pollution that causes global warming, as part of international negotiations. Those targets will soon be made public, officials said.

———–

This will be Mr. Obama’s second trip to Denmark this year. He made short trip to Copenhagen on Oct. 2 to make a vain pitch for 2016 Summer Olympics in Chicago during a meeting of the International Olympic Committee. On our website we complained at that time why Mr. Obama did not use the occasion also to touch upon the Climate Change issue with the other heads of State that also came to Copenhagen to boost their countries chances for the Olympics – Brazil, Japan, and Spain, and the local Danish host.

Now, on the eve of his speech in Oslo, before the Nobel Committee and the World, we hope that the US President will brand his personal credentials with a specially open – personal declaration – in matters of our need to adapt to the idea that there must be found a less energy intensive way for life in developed countries because of global climate change and the needed push for climate change science, technology and economics.

Let us note that the meetings days with the Heads of State are usually at the end of the Conference – that is only December 16-17, 2009 – thus by coming to Copenhagen on the 9th, just before the Oslo speech on the 10th, we think can justify Mr. Obama not retuning for the days when the other Heads of State will be there in order to rearrange the shards left after the fact that no deal was sealed at the 2009 meeting.

———

NOW IT IS OFFICIAL – PLEASE SEE THE WASHINGTON POST ALERT:
9:45 AM EST Wednesday, November 25, 2009

President Obama will travel to Copenhagen Dec. 9, a day before accepting the Nobel Peace Price in Oslo, to help launch a U.N.-sponsored global climate change summit, a White House official said. The president will meet with other world leaders gathered for the summit, which is scheduled for Dec. 7-18.

Obama to attend climate talks in Copenhagen write Michael D. Shear and Juliet Eilperin on that alert:
President help kick off the global climate talks despite the conference’s failure to secure a binding worldwide treaty to reduce emissions.

DOES THAT MEAN THAT OTHER HEADS OF STATE WILL CHANGE THEIR SCHEDULES ALSO – SO THEY WILL BE THERE AT THE START OF THE MEETINGS?

It sounds rather that he decided to come for the kick-start and does not mind indeed if they come later to rearrange the shards as we said above. Oh Well – President Obama might come back if it looks like that something can be achieved there.