Schwarzenegger to tell conference that international climate change efforts not enough

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Schwarzenegger says states key to climate fight

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says countries cannot solve the problem of climate change without the help of local governments.

In a speech planned Tuesday before the U.N. climate conference in Copenhagen, Schwarzenegger will encourage international agreements but say that won’t be enough to combat global warming.

“The world’s governments alone cannot make the progress that is needed on global climate change,” Schwarzenegger says in remarks prepared for delivery at the 192-nation conference. “They need the cities, the states, the provinces, the regions. They need the corporations, the activists, the scientists, the universities.”

President Barack Obama and more than 100 other national leaders were heading to Copenhagen in hopes of forging the framework of a plan to limit the causes of global warming.

Schwarzenegger was invited to address the conference to highlight the efforts of states and other local governments, said his spokesman, Aaron McLear.

Schwarzenegger committed California to cutting greenhouse gas emissions three years ago.

California is on track to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, about a 30 percent cut from projected emissions. The statewide mandate was the first in the United States.

The California Protocol Foundation, a group headed by some of California’s top business officials that raises money for the governor’s travels, is paying for Schwarzenegger and four of his staff members to attend the conference, McLear said.

Meanwhile, the nonprofit Climate Action Reserve is paying to send 15 officials from the California Environmental Protection Agency, the Air Resources Board and the state attorney general’s office.

Schwarzenegger also is scheduled to speak before a gathering of some 80 other mayors and local officials who have flown to the Danish capital for their own climate and energy summit.