Obama seeks to rebuild ties with Rousseff

BRAZIL PRESIDENT ARRIVES FOR CLIMATE CHANGE TALKS IN WAKE OF SPYING ROW

The issue of climate change and steps to slow its progress were expected to dominate the agenda as President Barack Obama and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff met at the White House, but the leaders would also be striving to show they’ve smoothed things over following revelations that Brazil was a target of American spy programmes.

Rousseff arrived at the White House yesterday for dinner with Obama. They meet again today for more formal talks and a joint White House news conference.

“I would fully expect that climate and the environment will be an important part of the agenda,” said deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes.

The meeting comes six months before world leaders gather at a United Nationssponsored conference in Paris in December to finalise a climate treaty. Obama has argued that a gradually warming planet could worsen social tensions and political instability worldwide, in addition to harming the US.

Countries are making their positions on climate change clear ahead of the Paris talks. The US already has announced a 2025 deadline to reduce emissions of heat-trapping gases by 26 per cent to 28 per cent below 2005 levels. It was unclear whether Rousseff would announce her country’s targets while in Washington.

‘Key milestone’

Regardless, Rhodes billed the meeting as “another key milestone on the road to Paris.” Obama has engaged various counterparts on the issue, including the leaders of China and India, Rhodes noted.

Climate change was also a major focus when leaders of the Group of Seven industrialised nations, including Obama, met in Germany in early June and agreed that the world should move away from using fossil fuels by the end of the century.

Burning oil, gas and coal produces carbon dioxide, which traps the sun’s heat and warms the atmosphere. The Obama-Rousseff meeting comes nearly two years after she cancelled a rare state visit planned for October 2013 to protest revelations that the US National Security Agency had spied on her communications.