Obama vows to redouble effort on climate change

By Alister Bull and Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama and European Union leaders pledged on Tuesday to redouble efforts for a deal on climate change at a summit in Copenhagen, but gave no details of how to reach that ambitious goal.

"We discussed climate change extensively and all of us agreed that it was imperative for us to redouble our efforts in the weeks between now and the Copenhagen meeting to ensure that we create a framework for progress," Obama told reporters.

The U.N. conference to fight climate change will be held in Copenhagen from Dec. 7 to 18, pitting emerging economic powerhouses China and India against Western industrial nations in the drive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Obama spoke after a White House meeting with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, EU Foreign Affairs chief Javier Solana and Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, whose country currently holds the EU's collective presidency.

The Europeans sounded optimistic a deal was within reach.

"Regarding climate change, I want to tell (you) that I am more confident now than I was in days before," said Barroso. "President Obama changed the climate on the climate negotiations. Because with the strong leadership of the United States we can indeed make an agreement."

Barroso earlier told reporters not to expect "a full-fledged binding treaty -- Kyoto type -- by Copenhagen."

But German Chancellor Angela Merkel told U.S. lawmakers after meeting with Obama earlier on Tuesday that a deal was urgent and there was "no time to lose."