Watching Obama’s Every Move: Copenhagen’09 Barack Obama’s presidential campaign was fueled by words like“hope”, and“change”. These words could just as well be used to describe the expectations that many in Germany – and across the world – are placing on the results of the 2009 Copenhagen climate treaty negotiations. While it is not yet clear what the U.S. approach will be to the negotiations, what is sure is that for many Europeans, the simple fact that there is a new U.S. administration is reason enough for hope. These hopes can be justified on many fronts. For example: • America is lagging behind in clean technology and climate change regulations – the U.S. has recognized its comparative disadvantage, and large businesses are proactively creating strategies to combat climate change. For example, the Climate Action Partnership includes major corporations such as Caterpillar Inc., DuPont, Xerox, and PepsiCo. • President Obama made clear signals during his election campaign that action on global warming would be a priority. • Following eight years of policies found frustrating by many Europeans, environmentalists, and climate change activists, the Obama administration has a chance to plot a climate-friendly course from the start. • According to recent polls, there is a majority of support for limiting carbon dioxide emissions(59%) – although there are party divides. 47% of Democrats rated global warming as a top priority versus only 12% of Republicans. • The Obama administration realizes that the world is looking for U.S. action and that it could be an important catalyst for other countries, such as China or India, to partner on global climate change legislation. However, there are also several reasons, just as valid, to temper the sometimes over-enthusiastic expectations with a healthy dose of skepticism: • Pressing domestic concerns such as joblessness in the U.S. may trump action on environmental goals. A recent Gallup poll showed that, if given an“either-or” choice, Americans would rather see economic growth even if the environment suffered as a result – the first time this priority has shifted since Gallup started taking the survey in 1985.