Obama: I came here
to act
"Our
ability to take collective action is in doubt," US
President Barack Obama warned the plenary at COP15.
Rie Jerichow - 18/12/2009 - As the fifth speaker, President
Barack Obama took the floor in the plenary. He stressed
that he did not come to talk, but to act.
Being
the world largest economy and second largest emitter of
greenhouse gases, America has a responsibility, he said,
and added that America would continue to move toward a green
economy – "but we will be stronger if we act
together," he said.
He
told the heads of state and governments that it is imperative
with a "mechanism to review whether we are keeping
our commitments, and to exchange this information in a transparent
manner." Without such accountability, any agreement
would be "empty words on a page".
"Mitigation.
Transparency. And financing. It is a clear formula - one
that embraces the principle of common but differentiated
responses and respective capabilities. And it adds up to
a significant accord – one that takes us further than
we have ever gone before as an international community",
Obama said in his address.
Finally
he urged world leaders to "choose action over inaction;
the future over the past - with courage and faith, let us
meet our responsibility to our people and to the future
of our planet".
Da UNFCCC
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