Obama urges climate deal as U.N. summit opens in tense Paris

Kim Hjelmgaard | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Obama 'personally' acknowledges U.S. role in climate change President Obama told world leaders gathered for the COP 21 climate summit in Paris that the "U.S. recognizes our role in creating this problem" and has made major improvements.

PARIS — President Obama urged his fellow world leaders Monday to reach a landmark deal to curb global warming before it dooms the planet.

"I come here personally as the leader of the world’s biggest economy and second-biggest emitter to say that America not only acknowledges its role in climate change but embraces doing something about it," Obama said.

Speaking at the opening session of a United Nations conference attended by 196 nations, he said the old arguments for inaction on climate change had been broken.

“One of the enemies we will be fighting at this conference is cynicism. The notion we can't do anything about climate change,” Obama said.

He said the next few weeks could mark a turning point in efforts to limit global temperature rises, and "climate change could define the contours of this century more than any other (problem)."

The conference, which is scheduled to conclude Dec. 11, aims to reach an accord for reducing man-made greenhouse gases that cause global warming.

Amid extraordinarily tight security, 151 world leaders converged on the exhibition halls at Le Bourget Airport just outside the French capital.

Paris remains on edge in the wake of the coordinated terrorist attacks by Islamic State militants Nov. 13 in Paris that killed 130 people.

Opening the event Monday, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said negotiators had only days to finalize an agreement. He said that when the conference ends, he wants to be able to say "our mission is accomplished."

U.N. climate chief Christina Figueres said in her opening remarks, "Never before has a responsibility so great been in the hands of so few. The world is looking to you."

In his speech, Obama said he saw the effects of climate change firsthand in Alaska, "where the sea is already swallowing villages and eroding shorelines" and "where glaciers are melting at a pace unprecedented in modern times."

He called his summer trip to Alaska a "preview of one possible future."

The president said, “We know the truth, that many nations have contributed little to climate change but will be the first to feel its most destructive effects. For some island nations, climate change is a threat to their very existence.”

David Waskow of the World Resources Institute, an environmental organization, said Obama's speech clearly conveyed what's at stake, particularly for the most vulnerable communities around the world.

"He underscored that the United States is fully committed to leading by example in the fight against climate change at home and here in Paris. His call for cooperation, not conflict, is one that will resonate around the world," Waskow said.

Obama arrived in Paris late Sunday night and paid a surprise visit to the Bataclan theater, where 90 people were killed in last month's terror attacks. He placed a white rose at a memorial at the scene.

In his address, he praised Paris for carrying on with the conference despite the attacks and said there was no greater rejection to those who wanted "to tear down the world."

He held bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Obama emphasized the importance of Chinese-U.S. efforts to fight climate change. Those countries are the two biggest greenhouse gas producers.

"Nowhere has our coordination been more necessary and more fruitful," he said.

China's president, like Obama, used his speech to acknowledge that as the world's largest emitter, China needed to support developing countries financially and technologically to combat global warming.

On the sidelines of the event, Obama met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. They discussed the situation in Ukraine and the crisis in Syria. Obama expressed his regret over a Russian fighter jet that was shot down by Turkey, a NATO member, that led to the deaths of two Russian military personnel.

Putin told the conference in his address, "We have demonstrated that we can have economic development and take care of the environment at the same time."

French President François Hollande connected the fight against global warming to the fight against extremism.

"What is at stake with this climate conference is peace," he said at the opening of the summit.

"The fight against terrorism and the fight against climate change are two major global challenges we must face," he said.

The United Nations wants the conference to produce a legally binding accord that ensures the Earth's temperature does not increase above 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) from preindustrial levels, but some developing countries most exposed to climate impacts such as extreme weather and rising sea levels want a more ambitious target of 1.5. degrees Celsius.

Some developing nations also say that developed nations responsible for the majority of historic greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming should have to do more to reach that target.

Hear more about the historic talks from journalist Kim Hjelmgaard with a report from Paris in the audio player below: