Despite his popularity abroad, when it comes to climate change, US President Obama is in a corner. The international community wants the United States to cut its carbon emissions by 25 to 40 per cent over the next 10 years.

“As I recall it was senior President Bush who went to Rio and said that the American way of life is not for negotiation. But I say, if it affects the world then it should be up for negotiation,” pleads Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

What policy the US follows is critical because while it is home to only 5 per cent of the world’s population, the US is responsible for nearly a quarter of the world’s total carbon emissions.

But reducing emissions means cutting back on energy use at home, which America refused, as it declined to sign on to the Kyoto Protocol.

Now, the US House has passed legislation to cut emissions through a climate change bill better known as cap-and-trade. But the senate, which is preoccupied with health care, has said it is unlikely to vote on cap-and-trade before the Copenhagen summit in December.

“The crisis today of climate change is the inability of the UN’s to put on the table a credible emissions target by 2020. If that is done, the atmospherics of Copenhagen will change dramatically, “comments Jairam Ramesh, India’s Minister for Environment.

On Tuesday, President Obama will address the UN Summit on climate change in New York. He cannot pledge specific targets or emission cuts as he do not have without congressional backing to do so. But the world will watch closely- because without the United States on board, any agreement reached at Copenhagen in December will be all but meaningless.

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