Barack Obama will travel to Denmark for the Copenhagen Climate Change summit in a bid to negotiate an international deal on emissions reductions.

The US president's involvement in the conference was confirmed yesterday (November 25th 2009), as was his intention to pledge a 17 per cent cut in the country's greenhouse gas output by 2020.

Having the support of the leader of the second-biggest polluter in the world, behind only China, will no doubt be of benefit to the climate change talks. This was the view given by several world leaders and political figures on hearing the news.

Speaking to the BBC, climate chief at the UN Yvo de Boer said Obama's presence at the negotiations is "critical to a good outcome".

Furthermore, Danish prime minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen expressed his opinion that his presence at the summit "emphasises the president's will to contribute to an ambitious global deal in Copenhagen".

Obama originally announced his intentions to travel to the talks earlier this month, telling Reuters he would attend provided his presence would help to secure a deal on climate change.