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January 29, 2010

U.S. Submits Pledge to Reduce Emissions 4%
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The U.S. has formalized its pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
under the non-binding agreement struck at the Copenhagen Climate Summit
last month. On Thursday, the Obama administration submitted its plan to
reduce emissions by seventeen percent of 2005 levels by 2020. The figure
amounts to just four percent of the 1990 levels used as the standard by
the rest of the world. The U.S. pledge is contingent on Congressional
approval. Other countries to submit their reduction targets include the
Marshall Islands, which pledge to reduce emissions 40 percent. Marshall
Islands Foreign Minister John Silk said: “If one of the smallest and
most vulnerable island states can take action, the largest countries
have no excuse not to follow our example.”



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