"In Copenhagen, Obama Urges Action"

"Copenhagen -- President Obama exhorted world leaders at international climate talks to 'recognize it is better to act than talk' and seal a framework agreement on controlling greenhouse gases.

In a relatively brief speech to a session of more than 100 heads of state from around the world, Obama sketched the pillars of a possible deal: commitments by industrialized and fast-growing countries to limit emissions, a way of monitoring whether countries keep their emissions commitments and a grand aid package to help poor nations adapt to climate change and transition to low-emission energy.

The president promised that the United States would keep its pledge to reduce emissions -- in the range of 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 -- 'no matter what happens in Copenhagen.' But he also warned that the world risked, by failing to come to agreement here, prolonging an already protracted debate while the effects of climate change worsen.

'We are ready to get this done today,' Obama said. 'But there has to be movement on all sides.'  "

Jim Tankersley reports for the Los Angeles Times December 18, 2009.