Reporting from Washington and L'Aquila, Italy — Addressing leaders of the world's most important economies early Thursday, President Obama wasted no time in proclaiming a new day for U.S. policy on climate change.
"I know that in the past, the United States has sometimes fallen short of meeting our responsibilities," he said, "So, let me be clear: Those days are over."
But by the end of the day, when the Group of 8 summit in L'Aquila, Italy, wrapped up its deliberations on climate, Obama found himself stymied by many of the same roadblocks that have plagued past efforts to tackle global warming.
As in the past, leaders of the most developed nations declined to commit themselves to any specific actions now or in the immediate future to curb the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming -- actions that would require raising energy prices, boosting taxes or imposing other unpopular economic measures on their people.
Instead, they embraced the high-sounding goal of reducing their own emissions by 80% and worldwide emissions by 50% by 2050 -- without pledging to take any specific steps to get there. China, India and other major developing countries, who pressed for action in the next decade by the G-8 countries, reacted by rejecting the package.
And a side meeting Obama convened Thursday to bring together the nations most responsible for greenhouse emissions ended with only general pronouncements, and no firm financial commitments, to work against warming and share emissions-curbing technologies in the future.
Paying the economic and political costs for effective action against climate change has always been a problem. But it was especially difficult this time because of the global recession, even with a popular new leader such as Obama seeking to forge ahead.
"There's always a high expectation for what the U.S. can deliver, and higher expectations for Obama, because he's Obama," said Jake Schmidt, international climate policy director for the Natural Resources Defense Council. "Those are difficult expectations to meet."
Schmidt and other activists said that Obama, by bringing the United States to the table on global warming after what they called foot-dragging by the Bush administration, has given new steam to negotiations that will culminate at a United Nations climate conference in Copenhagen in December.
The Italy talks represented small but important progress in the climate debate, they said.
