With the international climate talks happening days from now, Congressman Markey has been engaging directly with world leaders to find common ground on climate change solutions. After German Chancellor Angela Merkel became the first German leader to address a joint session of Congress since 1957, she met privately with Congressman Markey, along with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Congressman Henry Waxman. Chancellor Merkel discussed the Waxman-Markey legislation with the authors in great detail, showing that even clean energy leaders like Germany continue to look to the United States on the international stage.

Congressman Markey also met with a key player in the upcoming climate talks, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. India, along with China, are the two most pivotal emerging economies in the effort to combat climate change and reach an international agreement. That’s also why Congressman Markey, in his role as the Chair of the International Commission on Climate and Energy Security for Global Legislators Organization for a Balanced Environment -- or GLOBE – reached an important agreement in Copenhagen this October with China’s Congressman Wang Guangtao, Chairman of the Peoples Congress Environment Protection Committee.

The Markey-Wang agreement established a set of principles that countries will use when crafting domestic policy on energy efficiency, clean energy standards and technology, and other key measures. The principles were approved by the more than 100 legislators from Brazil, India, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the European Union, along with many other key economies.