U.N. Climate Summit Under Way in Copenhagen

December 7, 2009 -- Leaders from across the globe convened today in Copenhagen for a United Nations conference to discuss a plan to combat climate change. One of the goals of the summit, which runs through Dec. 18, is to work on a follow-up treaty to the Kyoto Protocol that expires in 2012.

President Obama announced that he will attend the summit on Dec. 18, and according to the White House, he will offer to cut greenhouse gases by presenting "a U.S. emission reduction target in the range of 17 percent below 2005 levels in 2020."

To help the United States prepare a national response to climate change, the National Research Council is currently undertaking a suite of congressionally requested reports called America's Climate Choices, which will propose how the nation could limit the magnitude of climate change, adapt to its impacts, and provide paths to action. Four panel reports and a final report will identify effective short-term actions and promising long-term strategies, investments, and opportunities.

The National Research Council has also published a wide range of reports on climate change-related topics, including such instrumental reports as Surface Temperature Reconstructions for the Last 2000 Years (2006) and Climate Change Science: An Analysis of Key Questions (2001).

Reports issued in the last year include:

Restructuring Federal Climate Research to Meet the Challenges of Climate Change (2009)
Informing Decisions in a Changing Climate (2009)
Letter Report on the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (2009)

In addition, a free booklet is available summarizing the findings and recommendations from several reports on this topic.

Other Resources:

• Conference Web Site