President Barack Obama has said that with the United States at the helm, the world must come together and reach a groundbreaking accord on climate change or the planet, as we know it, may cease to exist.
In his weekly address on Saturday, Obama raised the stakes ahead of a key United Nations gathering in Paris later this year, where the U.S., China and other world powers hope to strike the largest international climate change deal in history. The U.S. contribution to the deal will be a pledge to cut greenhouse-gas emissions by at least 26 percent by 2030, while China will formally promise to cap its pollution levels by 2030 and then begin gradual reductions, reported The Washington Times.
Obama said that there was "new hope" that with American leadership, the world would be able to finally reach an agreement this year to prevent the worst impacts of climate change before it's too late. He added that the issue at hand was "bigger and longer-lasting" than his presidency.
However, the president's climate agenda has been facing stiff opposition at home where several powerful energy groups and lawmakers of both parties resist many of his environmental actions.
Obama will travel to the Florida Everglades on Wednesday to further push his climate agenda, which focuses on improving energy efficiency, raising auto fuel standards and, most importantly, imposing unprecedented restrictions on emissions from power plants.