U.N officials had hoped that the recent summit meeting for environmental awareness would show that leaders could unite and make real commitments to lowering carbon emissions globally. However this did not prove to be the case, making an agreement in Copenhagen within 70 days seems nearly impossible.

Each of the leaders spoke of all the ways in which their countries would like to lower greenhouse gas emissions but none made any real commitments, especially the key countries such as United States, China, and India. This behavior from the United States and China, which make up for about 40 percent of green house gas emissions was particularly disappointing.

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President Obama and President Hu Jintao have finally acknowledged the importance of lowering carbon emissions but have yet to lay any concrete plans. President Hu Jintao did talk about various ways in which he would like to steer China into a more environmentally friendly direction: planting forests, reducing dependency on fossil fuels by 15% and the percentage of carbon dioxide tied to national income; all in hopes to make China greener by 2020.

While China’s efforts are commendable they are not enough; they are unclear, unspecific, and not very binding.

President Obama noted the urgency of the situation saying that nations must unite and work for progress toward a greener environment and economy. He said that the developed countries which are accountable for a considerable portion of pollution must commit to lowering greenhouse gas emissions; the poorer developing countries should be helped in their efforts to lower emissions and establish green economies.

Many people felt let down by President Obama’s speech, and had hoped he would take advantage of the situation and make clear the United States’ commitment toward the green movement.

President Obama, did however vocalize his objectives for America’s green movement by promising to make the greatest investment in green energy in American history. In turn he declared that the US would increase its efforts to improve carbon emissions standards for vehicles and make green energy more dominant.

The President of India, Pratibha Patil, was absent of the summit meeting. However India’s environmental minister stated that India also aimed to lower greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuel energy.

Some countries did state notable goals for a greener world. Japan declared that its goal for the next decade involved decreasing emissions by 25 percent and committing to help the green movement by contributing financially and technologically.