another positive change

Obama to lead fight against climate change: Clinton

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Incoming President Barack Obama will lead "a global and coordinated response" toward combating climate change, secretary of state designate Hillary Clinton told a Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday.

Clinton told Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, that he was among "the very first in a growing chorus from both parties to recognize that climate change is an unambiguous security threat.

"At the extreme it threatens our very existence but well before that point it could well incite new wars of an old kind over basic resources like food, water and arable land," Clinton said.

"President-elect Obama has said America must be a leader in developing and implementing a global and coordinated response to climate change," Clinton said.

"We will participate in the upcoming UN Copenhagen Climate Conference and a global energy forum," the 61-year-old senator told the committee a week before Obama assumes office.

"And we will pursue an energy policy that reduces our carbon emissions while reducing our dependence on foreign oil and gas, fighting climate change and enhancing our economic and energy security," she said.
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