President Obama met with Chinese President Hu Jintao today and “agreed to expand our cooperation on climate change, energy and [the] environment” among other issues, Hu told members of the press after their meeting.

“As the two largest consumers and producers of energy, there can be no solution to this challenge without the efforts of both China and the United States,” President Obama said. The leaders agreed to launch a joint U.S.-China clean energy research center, take actions to mitigate the impacts of climate change and to abide by any agreements that are reached at next month’s COP-15 conference in Copenhagen, a meeting of the conference of the parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC.)

The economy was also high on the leaders’ agenda. Hu said the two countries will continue to increase dialogue on financial policies and trade disagreements. They both spoke of the importance of the G20 as a body that can advance reforms of the international financial system.

“China’s partnership has proved critical in our effort to pull ourselves out of the worst recession in generations,” Obama said.

President Obama, who I can also describe as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of my company, the U.S. federal government, ordered us to start measuring our greenhouse gas emissions and set targets within 90 days to reduce them by the year 2020.

In the president’s Executive Order, which he issued October 5, there are two important things to bear in mind with this requirement. One is that the U.S. federal government is the largest energy consumer in the U.S. economy, occupying nearly 500,000 buildings, operating more than 600,000 vehicles, and purchasing more than $500 billion per year in goods and services. I am also one of more than 1.8 million civilian employees. In other words, that’s about the same number of employees as Walmart, the world’s largest employer, had in 2005.

Which brings me to the second point: President Obama wants his employees to lead by example “when it comes to creating innovative ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase energy efficiency, conserve water, reduce waste, and use environmentally-responsible products and technologies.”

Along with coming up with a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, we “feds” are also being asked to meet other targets such as 50 percent recycling and waste diversion by 2015, a 30 percent reduction in vehicle-fleet petroleum use by 2020, and a 26 percent improvement in water efficiency by 2020.

I’m curious to see what plans the State Department will come up with by January 5, 2010. From my tiny little corner of the federal government, I can see one way of making my workplace more green: automatic hand dryers as an alternative to paper towels.

Meeting with world leaders at the United Nations’ Climate Change Summit, President Obama said “no nation, however large or small, wealthy or poor, can escape the impact of climate change.”

The effects of climate change can be reversed, Obama said. While the United States may have not done enough in the past, “it is a new era. … I am proud to say that the United States has done more to promote clean energy and reduce carbon pollution in the last eight months than at any other time in our history.”

The United States is increasing its investment in renewable energies and will work with other nations to seek other solutions.

“Because no one nation can meet this challenge alone, the United States has also engaged more allies and partners in finding a solution than ever before,” Obama said. The president acknowledged that international cooperation on the topic is challenging, but that “difficulty is no excuse for complacency.”

What do you think - can the effects of climate change be reversed? And do you believe governments will work together to make this happen?

The transcript of Obama’s remarks is available on America.gov.

Speaking July 9 at the G8 meeting in L’Aquila, Italy, President Obama said climate change is one of the “defining challenges of our time” and can no longer be ignored.

G8 leaders agreed that by 2050, developed nations will reduce carbon emissions 80 percent below a base year that was not specified. They also agreed to work with other nations to cut overall global emissions in half.

Obama acknowledged that developed and developing nations have different priorities because of their differing levels of economic development. Developing nations do not want to “sacrifice their aspirations for development and higher living standards,” but they must be active participants in a climate change solution, Obama said.

On the other hand, developed nations have “the much larger carbon footprint per capita,” Obama said, which carries a “historic responsibility to take the lead.”

“I know that in the past, the United States has sometimes fallen short of meeting our responsibilities. So let me be clear: Those days are over,” Obama said.

For more, see “G8 Nations Agree to Cut Carbon Emissions 80 Percent by 2050.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel paid the White House a visit June 26 and discussed a number of issues with President Obama, among them, climate change.

The United States will “stand with Germany and lead in confronting the energy and climate change crisis,” Obama said. “Europe in many ways over the last several years has moved more rapidly than the United States on addressing this issue. And I’ve been very blunt and frank with Chancellor Merkel that we are still working through creating the framework where we can help lead the international effort,” he said.

Merkel described recent U.S. legislation on climate change as “a sea change” and said it shows that the United States is “very serious on climate.” She said the legislation, if passed, could help at the global conference on climate change in Copenhagen, scheduled for December.

This legislation passed through the House of Representatives later that day. President Obama praised the House for its work during his weekly address, June 27. “The energy bill that passed the House will finally create a set of incentives that will spark a clean energy transformation in our economy,” Obama said, adding that it would spur development of alternative energies.

“What steps you will take for America to participate with other world countries in reducing global warming?” one America.gov reader wants to ask Barack Obama.

President-elect Obama has vowed that his administration would bring a “new chapter in American leadership on climate change.”

“Few challenges facing America – and the world – are more urgent than combating climate change,” Obama said in a video message earlier this week to participants of the Global Climate Summit.

You can watch the entire video of Obama’s remarks on the transition Web site, Change.gov.