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The UN's top expert on climate change has taken on the US president for not saying and doing enough on climate change. Indian-born Dr Rajendra K Pachauri, Chairman, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, told NDTV that President Barack Obama missed an opportunity to outline bold initiatives and show more leadership in the run-up to the Copenhagen summit on climate change.
"To be honest I expected much more from him. I thought he would make certain commitments and certain pledges to take some action and I do realise that there is separation of powers in the US government and unless you get legislation through the senate, it is not going to come into effect. But there is a lot the president could do using his executive authority," said Pachauri.
When asked if a major shift could be expected in US's climate change policies during Obama's reign, Pachauri said, "I am very hopeful that there will be an agreement in Copenhagen. I expect that by then the US would certainly have taken a few steps. But at the moment there is slow progress with respect to the negotiations and we have got very little time. So I hope this event today will inject momentum in the whole dialogue."
"To be honest I expected much more from him. I thought he would make certain commitments and certain pledges to take some action and I do realise that there is separation of powers in the US government and unless you get legislation through the senate, it is not going to come into effect. But there is a lot the president could do using his executive authority," said Pachauri.
When asked if a major shift could be expected in US's climate change policies during Obama's reign, Pachauri said, "I am very hopeful that there will be an agreement in Copenhagen. I expect that by then the US would certainly have taken a few steps. But at the moment there is slow progress with respect to the negotiations and we have got very little time. So I hope this event today will inject momentum in the whole dialogue."
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