Copenhagen talks draw world leaders

With the U.N. Climate Change summit set to begin two weeks from today in Copenhagen, over 60 world leaders have confirmed they will be at the summit, including the heads of state of the UK, France, Germany, Japan, and Australia. President Obama has said he may attend but has not confirmed that he will definitely be attending.

Leaders from over 192 countries have been invited in hopes that their presence will help increase the chances that a politically- and legally-binding agreement is made. In addition to Obama, Chinese President Hu Jintao and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have not confirmed that they will be attending the summit.

So, what do organizers of the conference hope to accomplish? The short answer is a legally-binding agreement on emissions reductions. The problem is that each country has its own agenda and own ideas on what should and should not be in such an agreement. This Daily Green story has more details on what the organizers are hoping to accomplish and the politics behind a potential agreement.

President to issue executive order on emissions

President Obama is planning to sign an executive order next month requiring federal agencies to cut emissions by 20 percent by 2020.

In order to meet the requirement of cutting two percent of emissions each year from 2010 to 2020 (or 20 percent over the entire time), public sector officials will have to build more efficient structures, use more renewable energy, use less fuel, and hire more "green" contractors. Furthermore, private sector companies with government contracts will also have to show how they plan to cut emissions in order to keep their contracts with the government.

This is certainly good news for the environment if the President carries through with this executive order. To read more about the proposed executive order, check out this story from Business Green.