U.S. to Host Forum on Climate Change

MARCH 30, 2009, 2:38 A.M. ET

U.S. to Host Forum on Climate Change

By IAN TALLEY

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. will host a meeting of major economies in April in an effort to lay the diplomatic foundation for an international agreement on climate change and energy later this year.

By convening a meeting of the world's largest greenhouse-gas emitters, President Barack Obama hopes to help create political momentum for an agreement to be signed at the United Nations climate-change negotiations in Copenhagen in December.

Although few international climate-change experts think a final accord will be signed at the Copenhagen talks, many expect that with U.S. leadership, the meeting will be able to forge a document of foundational principles for a post-Kyoto Protocol agreement. That international agreement, adopted in 1997, establishes legally binding commitments for participating nations to reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions.

The meeting, to be held in Washington on April 27-28, will "advance the exploration of concrete initiatives and joint ventures that increase the supply of clean energy while cutting greenhouse-gas emissions," the White House said in a statement Saturday.

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