Washington: U.S. President Barack Obama will skip +20 Earth Summit later this month in Rio de Janeiro.
Obama, however, instead, will send Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as the top U.S. representative for the Earth Summit, The Politico reports.
Environmentalists had been clamoring for Obama to go to Brazil to attend G-20 to mark the 20th anniversary of the start of international negotiations on global warming and other major environmental issues.
"We`re of course very pleased Secretary Clinton will be there," Jacob Scherr, director of global strategy and advocacy at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said.
Clinton will join more than 100 other world leaders at the June 20-22 event, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Francois Hollande.
Clinton will be joined by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, White House Council on Environmental Quality chair Nancy Sutley, Assistant Secretary of State Kerri-Ann Jones and State Department special climate envoy Todd Stern.
President George H.W. Bush made a last-minute trip to Rio`s first Earth Summit in 1992 during his own re-election campaign, a point Summit has repeatedly raised in their pleadings to the Obama White House.
"But at the same time it`s important that President Obama find ways to demonstrate that the United States remains committed to addressing climate change and sustainability issues, both around the globe and at home, and both during and after Rio+20" Jacob Scherr said.
ANI
