Obama's Copenhagen plan puts 'skin in the game'

As we noted yesterday, President Obama's decision to attend the final stage of the Copenhagen climate talks instead of the beginning carries risk by closely tethering the White House to the outcome.

Over at Grist, David Roberts addresses this at slightly greater length. “Coming to Copenhagen at the climax of the talks, specifically to push negotiations ‘over the top,’ as the White House statement says, is a risky move for Obama. He’s got skin in the game now; he’ll look foolish if he rides in at the last minute and fails to broker an agreement,” he writes.

“If he’s willing to stick his neck out like this, Obama must be pretty confident that he can get a deal,” he added.

The Financial Times’ energy page, meanwhile, examines the decision in the context of the hacked climate science email controversy. Ed Crooks writes that the controversy has given a boost to opponents of emissions curbs.

“Given all that, it is particularly impressive that president Obama has decided to go to Copenhagen at the business end of the meeting, instead of the early pointless photo-opportunity he had previously planned. The outcome still hangs in the balance,” he writes.