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COPENHAGEN -- A top United Nations climate official says the Environmental Protection Agency's decision to declare greenhouse gases a danger to public health will give Barack Obama more room to negotiate here.
"It's a very good signal indeed," said Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the Convention on Climate Change. "It makes it easier for the president of the United States to commit to something."
The sweeping EPA decision forces the agency to begin regulating emissions across the economy. And it puts new pressure on Congress to pass a climate bill pre-empting the regulations. The administration has said that it favors a legislative approach to curbing the emissions.
"If I were a businessman, I would say please, please, please do a deal in Copenhagen and please, please, please make it market based," said de Boer. "Every business knows that taxes and regulation tend to be a lot less efficient and a lot more expensive than market-based approaches."
