Climate change among Obama’s top priorities in second term

Climate change would be among top priorities for US President Barack Obama in his second term, the White House said on Wednesday.

“The President has been clear since he took office that tackling climate change and enhancing energy security will be among his top priorities in the second term,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters.

A day earlier, during his inaugural address, Obama reiterated his commitment on climate change.

Obama said his administration would respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray children and future generations.

Listing out the achievements of Obama during his first term on climate change, Carney said Obama took historic action to confront climate change, including proposing the first national standard for harmful carbon pollution from new power plants, as well as establishing unprecedented standards for cars and trucks that will slash emissions of carbon pollution while at the same time saving consumers billions of dollars.

“And you know, it’s often forgotten, because this is an executive action that he did in concern with major automobile companies, but taken by itself, this single action did more to reduce carbon pollution than any other action that has been taken, in our view. And we need to continue to build on that, and the president intends to continue to build on that progress in the second term,” he said.

“This is not only an issue of helping our climate and the environment, but it’s one of our national security. So when we pursue energy independence, when we continue to reduce our dependence on foreign oil by increasing domestic production of fossil fuel energy, but other forms of energy, we enhance our security and protect America’s future in that way, and we also contribute to the effort to deal with climate change and all the impacts of climate change,” Carney said in response to a question.

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