On his way to Oslo to pick up the Nobel Peace Prize, President Obama will attend the Copenhagen global climate summit on Dec. 9, according to anonymous White House officials. While the rest of the world has been clamoring for substantive U.S. energy legislation, the president will not be able to deliver on that front. What he is expected to do is deliver at the summer is a U.S. target for reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

That expected target is a 17% drop in greenhouse gases below 2005 levels by 2020.

According to the Los Angeles Times:

White House officials said the decision to attend came after productive climate discussions between Obama and the heads of China and India, two developing nations whose participation is seen as critical to any successful effort to negotiate an agreement.

Those discussions left the president optimistic that his presence in Copenhagen could seal a meaningful - though not legally binding - climate deal, meeting the standard that Obama previously set for his attendance at the summit, the officials said.