Climate Change

Why President Obama Made This Obvious Admission About Climate Change

President Obama says the U.S. is taking responsibility for the large role it has played in fueling climate change, but why is that important?

Why President Obama Made This Obvious Admission About Climate Change
Getty Images / Olivier Douliery

President Obama is copping to the U.S.' role in creating climate change.

"The United States of America not only recognizes our role in creating this problem, we embrace our responsibility to do something about it," the president said during a speech

Given that until recently the U.S. was the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, that seems obvious.

But it's also important for the climate talks where the president made his comments.

One of the main points of the conference is getting developed countries, which have already contributed a lot to the problem, to help developing countries, which are wary that cutting emissions will hurt their economic growth. (Video via CCTV)

"Resources will be there for countries willing to do their part to skip the dirty phase of development," President Obama said.

And those resources could come in the form of billions of dollars that the U.N. hopes developed countries will commit to its Green Climate Fund, which would funnel that money to developing countries. (Video via United NationsArirang)

This video includes images from Getty Images.