EarthNews » Archive » Global climate leaders see hope, change

From Kenya to Bangladesh, other climate change leaders across the globe said they were reveling in Sen. Obama’s election.
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Saleem Huq, a lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s latest report on adaptation and sustainable development, said he is “very, very hopeful” that the United States will take a new direction on climate change under Obama.

“It’s absolutely great news. I stayed up all night to watch it,” said Huq, who now serves as head of the climate change division at the U.K.-based nonprofit International Institute for Environment and Development.

The next major round of climate change negotiations will take place in December in Poznan, Poland. Huq and others said they hope to see Obama send strong signals over the coming weeks that the United States will engage in the global drive to reduce heat-trapping emissions.

As for the chance that Obama would personally attend the Poznan conference, Huq said, “that would be wonderful. That would really be a game-changer, even if he didn’t come himself but sent an envoy like [former Vice President] Al Gore.”