Climate treaty essential

San Jose Mercury News: Saturday’s demonstrations in 181 countries were a reminder of the looming United Nations Climate Change Conference, set to begin Dec. 7 in Copenhagen with the goal of replacing the expiring Kyoto accord.

There’s growing skepticism that an agreement including the United States can be forged in December, partly because Congress isn’t expected to deal with climate-change legislation until next year, signaling its degree of willingness to accept emission limits. But the talks still offer an opportunity for President Barack Obama to show the world leadership on the environment that he promised during his presidential campaign.

Obama will be in Norway to accept his Nobel Peace Prize around the time of the summit. He should use his speech in Oslo to reassert his commitment to climate-change legislation and to restoring the U.S. to a position of global leadership on matters like this, in part through joining in the global treaty.

Cap-and-trade

Congressional agreement on pending cap-and-trade legislation is a crucial piece of the puzzle. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said earlier this month that he supported a form of the legislation, lending a shot of bipartisan credibility to the controversial reforms.

If the U.S. balks at firm targets for reducing greenhouse gases, developing nations such as India and China will have no motivation to remain inside the tent. The current treaty has produced some environmental improvements in these countries.

An alarming new Pew study last week showed that just 35 percent of Americans said they believe global warming is a serious threat, even as the scientific community grows more certain both of the danger and of the cause being man-made.

Abroad, as U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon put it in an interview Sunday, “All the world is now looking to the leadership of the United States and President Obama.”

There is no time to waste.