Washington:
US President Barack Obama will attend the climate change conference in Copenhagen on December 9, an administration official said on Wednesday.
Obama, whose country is the second-largest polluter after China, joins dozens of world leaders who have already accepted invitations to the UN-sponsored talks in the Danish capital that run December 7-18.
He was already scheduled to travel to Europe on December 10 to receive his Nobel Peace Prize in the Norwegian capital Oslo, not far from Copenhagen, where leaders will gather to seek a successor to the Kyoto Protocol.
The move came a day after Obama said the meeting must "reach a strong operational agreement that will confront the threat of climate change while serving as a stepping-stone to a legally binding treaty."
The White House was expected to make a formal announcement later on Wednesday and perhaps give details of a US target on cutting greenhouse gas emissions, seen as a key
factor in the talks.