Obama says US in global race to develop clean energy

President Barack Obama championed US leadership on clean energy on Friday, as international deadlines for climate change mitigation loom and a growing number of Americans is questioning the science of global warming.

At a speech at MIT, Obama said the US faces stiff competition from other countries to develop clean technologies that will power the 21st century (see video clip). "The nation that wins this competition will be the nation that leads the global economy ... and I want America to be that nation," Obama said.

He said the $787 billion stimulus bill enacted in February "makes the largest investment in clean energy in history", spurring the development of new battery technologies for hybrid vehicles and "doubling our capacity to generate renewable electricity".

But though the stimulus sets a new US record, a report (pdf) from the bank HSBC earlier this year noted that the US's $112 billion investment in clean energy was only half China's $221 billion stimulus investment in greenhouse-gas-reducing technologies.

The US is also facing challenges at home. On Thursday, the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press reported that only 57 per cent of Americans believe there is solid scientific evidence for global warming, down from 77 per cent in 2007.

And the cap-and-trade legislation that is now making its way through the US Senate is unlikely to be voted on before the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, begins on 7 December.

But speculation continues that Obama may sign bilateral agreements with China, now the world's largest greenhouse gas emitter, and India on climate change mitigation before the conference begins. He will meet with Chinese president Hu Jintao on 16 and 17 November and Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh on 24 November.