Climate change on U.S.-EU summit agenda

BRUSSELS, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- A European Union-United States summit will focus on climate change ahead of next month's U.N.-led climate change conference in Copenhagen, officials say.

The summit is set for Tuesday in Washington, and will feature a meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama, top officials from the European Commission and the Swedish EU presidency, who will sound each other out about the climate change positions, the EUobserver reported.

The summit, which is the first formal EU-U.S. meeting since Obama took office, will also focus on economic recovery after the Pittsburgh G20 meeting, and the situations in Afghanistan-Pakistan and Iran, EU officials say.

The EUobserver said Obama will be joined by Vice President Joseph Biden, his national security adviser and Deputy U.S. Secretary of State Jim Steinberg. The EU delegation reportedly will include EU commission president Jose Manuel Baroso and Swedish Prime Minister Frederik Reinfeldt.

"We don't expect a major breakthrough on climate, it would be highly surprising," an unnamed EU official told the EUobserver, but, he added, the European side wants to know where the United States stands in terms of emission reduction targets and the creation of a cap-and-trade regime.