Clinton names climate change envoy

Secretary of
State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday named Todd Stern as a special envoy on
climate change.

“As should be
evident by now, the president and I believe that American leadership is essential
to meeting the challenges of the 21st century, and chief among those is the
complex, urgent and global threat of climate change,” Clinton said.

{mosads}Stern worked in
her husband’s administration as a senior adviser and represented the U.S. at
the climate negotiations in Kyoto and Buenos Aires.

“The urgency of
the global climate crisis must not be underestimated. Nor should the science
behind it or the facts on the ground be ignored or dismissed,” Clinton stated.
“The time for realism and action is now.”

The announcement
coincided with Obama asking the Environmental Protection Agency to review its
denial of a California emissions standard that was tougher than federal
regulations.

“As the president
and Secretary Clinton have made clear, climate change poses a profound threat
to our future. If our deepest obligation in life is to care for our children
and leave a better world for them and those who follow, then we must confront
climate change now with an entirely new level of commitment, energy and focus,”
Stern said. “Our scientists are telling us emphatically that the rate at which
we’re warming the planet is unsustainable, and will cause vast and potentially
catastrophic damage to our environment, our economy and our national security.”

Clinton argued
that the U.S. could “turn the climate crisis into an economic opportunity that
creates jobs, generates growth, enhances our competitive edge and ensures
greater prosperity in the 21st century.”

Stern will be the
lead U.S. negotiator on climate and will work with the U.N. on the issue.

“We can only meet
the climate challenge with a response that is genuinely global. Eighty percent
of greenhouse gas emissions are produced outside the United States, and a
rapidly growing percentage is produced in emerging market countries,” he said.

“We will need to
engage in vigorous, creative diplomacy to dramatically reduce emissions, and we
will need to work with vulnerable regions and countries to help them adapt to
the climate change that is already locked into the system,” Stern added.