President-elect Obama promised that his administration would make a national and international response to climate change a top priority for its role in energy independence, environmental preservation and national security. During a videotaped speech played at the Governors’ Global Climate Summit in California, Obama said addressing climate change can help transform the economy.

The event drew governors from more than a half-dozen states and representatives from a dozen foreign countries, including China, Mexico and the United Kingdom. By the end of the summit Wednesday, participants are expected to sign a climate change declaration that will be passed on to worldwide negotiators who meet in December in Poland to begin hammering out the sequel to the Kyoto Protocol on global climate change, which the Bush administration has refused to sign.

Obama lauded the governors in attendance by name, praising them for their leadership on climate change and noting that “too often Washington has failed to show the same leadership, but that will change when I take office.” The president-elect promised to push policies that he claims can reduce oil dependence, improve national security and transform the economy with five million new jobs.”

Obama said he looks forward to “working with all nations” on the issue of climate change. “The stakes are too high and the consequences too great to continue to ignore the issue,” he said.

The event was hosted by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. “I still have friends in the business world who tell me that [global climate change mitigation] is going to hurt the economy, but we believe very strongly we can help the environment and help the economy,” said Schwarzenegger, before playing the videotaped message from Obama. “Our revolution now has soldiers and it is spreading around the globe.”

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