Barack Obama stokes expectations of climate change action in second term | Environment | guardian.co.uk

But a strategic decision by the White House in 2009 to downplay climate change, and Obama's avoidance of the issue during the campaign, makes it tricky for the president to now claim that he was elected to act on the issue.

Obama Victory, Sandy Give Environmental Groups Hopes For Climate Change Action

The president, [Brad] Johnson said, "needs to follow through with his 2007 promise to 'phase out a carbon-based economy' and his 2009 pledge to 'confront climate change by ending the world's dependence on fossil fuels.'"