US President Barack Obama has been sounding off on climate change, ahead of the December meeting in Copenhagen where international leaders will attempt to thrash out a new agreement.

The Guardian reports that Obama may not be able to sign up to any agreement straight away. The sticking point, says the paper, is that Congressional approval could be hard to get, and signing up without it would be politically risky.

“The Copenhagen climate change talks in December will come at a difficult moment,” says former UK cabinet minister Stephen Byers, who co-chaired the International Climate Change Taskforce. “The timing couldn’t really be worse for the Obama administration.”

It’s not all doom and gloom though.

The New York Times says Obama has “struck an optimistic note” about the prospects of a domestic global warming law:

In his second primetime news conference since taking office, Obama nudged Congress to focus its attention on passing cap-and-trade legislation through regular order rather than get tangled up on the measure during a preliminary debate this month over the nonbinding budget resolution.

“Our point in the budget is let’s get started now,” Obama said. “We can’t wait. And my expectation is that the energy committees, or other relevant committees, in both the House and the Senate, are going to be moving forward a strong energy package. It’ll be authorized. We’ll get it done. And I will sign it.”

Climate change tidbits

Barack Obama’s proposal to charge billions of dollars for pollution permits has divided businesses, environmentalists and Democrats all needed to help pass a U.S. law to limit climate damage from greenhouse gases. – Bloomberg

The current global economic crisis will only have a limited impact on global efforts to clinch a climate deal in Copenhagen, said Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Climate Change Secretariat said. – Xinhua

As President Barack Obama tries to green the United States by slapping limits on carbon emissions, Congress has been was told to ignore his plan because climate change does not exist. – AFP