Obama calls for strong global climate deal on historic tour of Alaska
U.S. President called on world leaders to reach a strong climate deal in Paris later this year during his visit to Alaska dedicated to climate change
United States’ President Barack Obama called on world leaders to reach a strong global climate deal in Paris later this year during his visit to Alaska dedicated to addressing climate change.
Obama (pictured right) arrived in Anchorage on Monday on a three-day tour around the state of Alaska dedicated to highlighting the effects of climate change in the Arctic region and became the first sitting U.S. president to visit the region above the Arctic Circle.
President Obama opened his visit by addressing a climate conference hosted by Secretary of State John Kerry for foreign ministers, mayors and experts from 20 nations and the European Union.
Kerry (pictured left) convened the Global Leadership in the Arctic meeting to address climate change impacts in the Arctic and the high-level gathering was strategically scheduled three months in advance of the crucial UN Climate Change Conference in December, when world leaders are due to sign a global deal to limit greenhouse gas emissions and global warming.
Obama addressed delegates at the Alaska meeting and warned of “more melting, more fires, more thawing of the permafrost, a negative feedback loop, a cycle - warming leading to more warming - that we do not want to be a part of.”
Kerry stressed the urgency for nations to reduce GHG emissions and short-lived climate pollutants including black carbon and methane and urged leaders to use the Global Leadership in the Arctic meeting as a “stepping stone” towards the Paris negotiations and beyond.
Obama said that the Clean Power Plan recently launched by the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is “the single most important step America has ever taken on climate change.”
The plan aims to cut carbon emissions from power plants across the U.S. by 32 per cent from by 2030 compared to 2005 levels.
Obama said: “the time to heed the critics and the cynics and the deniers is past… Those who want to ignore the science, they are increasingly alone. They’re on their own shrinking island.”
World powers meet in Paris in December with the aim of agreeing to curb global temperature rises.
While the Paris meeting will seek a deal to limit the rise in global temperatures to 2°C, there have been warnings that the goal is unlikely to be achieved.
During his trip to Alaska the President also hiked on the Exit Glacier that has experienced significant melts in recent years, and appeared in a television show with the British adventurer, writer and television presenter Bear Grylls.
The U.S. issued a joint statement with the seven other Arctic Council nations of Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden as well as 10 additional countries, and the European Union reaffirming their “commitment to take urgent action to slow the pace of warming in the Arctic”.
In a closing address at the conference Obama issued a call to action in the build up to the Paris summit saying: “On this issue, of all issues, there is such a thing as being too late. That moment is almost upon us. That’s why we’re here today. That’s what we have to convey to our people — tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that. And that’s what we have to do when we meet in Paris later this year.”
