Photo by oxfam international via Flickr

As many where preparing for Thanksgiving, President Barack Obama was making plans of his own. On Wednesday, November 25 Obama confirmed his trip to Copenhagen.

The United Nations Climate Change Conference, which will be held from December 7-18, aims to create an agreement on an international strategy to fight global warming.

At the conference Obama is expected to announce  that the United States intends to reduce greenhouse gas emissions “in the range of” 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050 as reported by various media outlets.

With environmental advocates and world leaders pressuring Obama to attend the conference to affirm the United States’ position on climate change, it seems as if the president is attending the climate talks as a political maneuver more than anything else.

Obama will be making a stop at the beginning of the conference, on December 9, on his way to accept the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo.  If an agreement where to be reached at the conference it would be at the end of the talks.

Furthermore, Obama hadn’t committed to going to Copenhagen or having emission targets for the U.S. He had emphasized the importance of the climate talks and  had promised many times to take action against global warming.

After eight years of inactivity on this matter from the Bush Administration, Obama’s promises brought hope to many. But as for me, I’ll believe it when I see results.