President Obama arrived in Copenhagen on Friday morning for the final day of climate change talks.

CNN

President Obama spoke in Copenhagen on Friday to push for an agreement with world leaders on climate change.

The meeting at the United Nations Climate Change Conference included nearly 20 other heads of state and government leaders.

The following is a transcript of Obama's prepared remarks:

Good morning. It's an honor for me to join this distinguished group of leaders from nations around the world. We come together here in Copenhagen because climate change poses a grave and growing danger to our people. You would not be here unless you - like me - were convinced that this danger is real. This is not fiction, this is science. Unchecked, climate change will pose unacceptable risks to our security, our economies and our planet. That much we know.

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CNN

President Obama took a risk by heading to Copenhagen Thursday to take part in the final stage of the U.N. Climate Conference with no firm assurance of an agreement - but the trip is worth the effort, according to Fareed Zakaria, CNN foreign affairs analyst.

The conference has been hampered by tension between developed nations including the United States, and nations such as China and India, whose developing economies are reliant on carbon-intensive energy.

"It's important to get the Indians and the Chinese to take this seriously and agree on common goals," Zakaria said. "There's no better way to impress on them the seriousness of the issue than for Obama to go to the conference.

"That's leadership," he said. "You've got to take these risks. If it was worth going to pitch the Chicago Olympics, it was surely worth doing this." Obama traveled to Copenhagen in October to support Chicago, Illinois', bid for the 2016 Olympics, but the games were awarded to Rio de Janiero, Brazil.

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Randi Kaye | BIO
AC360° Correspondent

Someone I know once said to me, “You can ride an elephant down Fifth Avenue in New York City, and nobody will look. Nothing phases New Yorkers.”

Well, today I found out that isn’t exactly true.

My proof: the electric car I drove around the city for a story for Anderson Cooper 360°.

The car looks like a souped-up golf cart. They come in black, white, red, green, champagne and blue, but no matter what the color, they are all “green” because they are all electric. They run on battery power instead of gasoline.

I climbed into one today to test it out for our story. In the passenger seat was Colin Reilly, who owns the company, www.freeelectriccar.com.

Let me tell you, Reilly was pretty brave as I drove around Manhattan in our open-air electric car, weaving in and out of traffic, and trying to avoid pedestrians and fire trucks with blaring sirens that seemed to be gaining on us every few blocks. I don’t even drive my own car in this city!

But.. back to our story.

The cars are street legal and go about 25 miles an hour. In New York City, we couldn’t go much faster than that anyway with all the traffic so it worked just fine. Some communities have actually lowered their speed limits to allow for these electric cars since they can only go on streets with speed limits that are 35mph or less.

The cars are better for the environment because they do not add to the carbon emissions. All you have to do is plug them in. That’s right, plug the car’s battery in and you’re good to go.

The battery lasts about 50 miles which is plenty for most people who use these cars. They’re popular with people who run errands close to home. In fact, Reilly says, about 80 percent of travel takes place within 10 miles of our homes.

And if you’re wondering how much it costs to run these cars – not much! Colin says the cars cost about a penny a mile. A penny a mile!

By the way, if you’ve ever wanted to own an electric car, I’m told if you buy one of these before the end of the year the government will give you a tax credit on the full cost of the car, which is about $6,500. You get that money in the form of a tax credit because this is all part of the stimulus plan.

The model I got to drive was pretty snazzy. It had a walnut wood interior and it even had a stereo system (which we cranked up). It has a horn which came in handy. When I was driving down Columbus Avenue, a guy driving a massive truck came up beside me, gave me the thumbs up, and honked his horn. His horn woke up the whole neighborhood, but I tooted my little horn back (it’s not much louder than the old bicycle horns) and he got a good laugh out of that. We actually turned heads everywhere we went. Never have I been on the receiving end of so many “thumbs up” from strangers. It was hilarious.

You can come along for the ride on AC360°. Don’t worry, there are seat belts ... but be sure to hang on!

Delegates from Burkina Faso at the UN climate talks in Copenhagen which run from December 7 to 18.

J. Timmons Roberts
Director of Center Environmental Studies, Brown University

It’s mid-evening, and yet the meeting has not yet begun. I’m sitting in a huge UN plenary negotiating hall with rows and rows of tables, each with a black plaque bearing a country’s name – nearly every country in the world – and lots of acronyms for agencies you’ve probably never heard of, all facing a long table and two huge video monitors. A row of tiny booths for interpreters lines one wall.

It took me a long while to notice among the sea of black country plaques the one white one indicating a nation that never ratified the Kyoto Protocol and therefore is not allowed to speak here: the United States.

Watching can be interesting, or deadly boring.

This is the time when negotiations shift gears. Foreign affairs ministers have arrived, as have a few heads of state, such as Britain’s Gordon Brown. The fifteen or so negotiating groups are due to finalize their prosposals, with the big issues worked out, so that final details can be tidied in time for the world leaders who will arrive in the next several days.

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Sarah Palin is hitting back at California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's dig at the former Alaska governor over the issue of climate change.

Alexander Mooney
CNN Ticker Producer

Sarah Palin is hitting back at California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's dig at the former Alaska governor over the issue of climate change.

"Why is Governor Schwarzenegger pushing for the same sorts of policies in Copenhagen that have helped drive his state into record deficits and unemployment?" Palin wrote on her Facebook page Tuesday night. "Perhaps he will recall that I live in our nation's only Arctic state and that I was among the first governors to create a sub-cabinet to deal specifically with climate change."

Palin's comments came hours after the California Republican questioned Palin's stance on climate change in an interview with the Financial Times at the Copenhagen climate change summit
"You have to ask: what was she trying to accomplish?" said Schwarzenegger, who has backed strict new emissions controls to combat climate change. "Is she really interested in this subject or is she interested in her career and in winning the (Republican presidential) nomination? You have to take all these things with a grain of salt."

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Gene Bloch
CNN New York Managing Editor

President Obama continues his economic focus with a trip to Home Depot in Alexandria, Virginia. The topic: the economic impact of energy efficiency for homes in its so-called Cash for Caulkers program. While there, he'll also meet with business leaders and get ideas from them. In his remarks he'll talk about energy saving ideas and retro-fitting homes.

We’ll drill down on the President’s plan for energy efficiency in American homes (likely offering up to $12,000 in incentives for homeowners to retrofit houses and make them more energy efficient), we’ll look back at a similar program CNNMoney covered in Babylon, NY earlier this year that has now expanded to 8 neighboring towns on Long Island and has been a boon for the local economy. Will a national program have the same impact?

Those better than expected signs on the economy keep trickling in, though they don’t mean much until the economy begins adding jobs.

Industrial production increased in November by a better than expected 0.8%, while economists had expected a half percent jump. Wholesale inflation as measured by the Producer Price Index jumped 1.8% in November, more than twice the gain expected, but most of that was due to a sharp run-up in energy prices.

Without food and energy, PPI’s so-called core rate was up half a percent.

The news comes as Federal Reserve policy makers meet in Washington – expect an announcement on policy tomorrow at about 2:15pm.

Bank of America pledged to step up small business lending on Monday, the same day President Obama asked the country’s major bank CEOs to do their part to help the economic recovery. Bank of America says it will increase small business lending by $5 billion next year. The bank’s small business lending fell 5% this year.

And Wells Fargo is joining the list of major banks that will pay back the TARP money loaned by the federal government. Wells says it will pay back the $25 billion it received during the crisis. And this morning, General Motors Chairman & CEO Ed Whitacre says the company will pay back $6.7 billion in government loans by next June. The company has also received $45 billion from Uncle Sam which it converted into an equity stake (meaning taxpayers own it).

And finally, whether it’s Goldman Sachs CEO saying the company is doing “God’s work,” Chris Farley appearing in new Direct TV ads, or the new AIG CEO calling Congress a bunch of “crazies” – they all qualify for some of the dumbest moments in business this year. In one of its smartest moments, CNNMoney compiled them.

Go here and check it out

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: 'It is time to launch a broad operational accord on climate change'.

Hillary Rodham Clinton
The New York Times

Our world is on an unsustainable path that threatens not only our environment, but our economies and our security. It is time to launch a broad operational accord on climate change that will set us on a new course.

A successful agreement depends upon a number of core elements, but two are shaping up to be essential: first, that all major economies set forth strong national actions and resolve to implement them; and second, that they agree to a system that enables full transparency and creates confidence that national actions are in fact being implemented.

Transparency, in particular, is what will ensure that this agreement becomes operational, not just aspirational. We all need to take our share of responsibility, stand behind our commitments, and mean what we say in order for an international agreement to be credible.

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Prince Charles
The Times of India

This week the world has an opportunity to herald perhaps the most exciting era of international cooperation in human history. As leaders gather in Denmark at the Copenhagen climate change summit, an accord on a way forward on this most critical issue could lay the foundations for a period of incredibly dynamic development and economic opportunity. But we will need to adopt 21st century ways of thinking and doing if we are to rise to the challenge before us and to make the most of the opportunities it presents.

While climate change has recently emerged as a clear priority for policy-makers in many countries, in many others the focus has quite understandably been elsewhere especially on development and the alleviation of poverty. While the focus on ending poverty must remain and be sharpened, it seems to me that we must guard against falling into the trap of seeing the protection of the environment and development of the economy as alternatives. I believe they are, in fact, two sides of the same coin.

No longer can any country or city pursue its interests in isolation. Today, the emphasis is very much on interconnection, interdependence and cooperation. While history reveals that humans sometimes struggle to succeed in these respects, we must not be deterred from seeking a better future. One challenge that has been on my mind a lot for the last couple of years, and which is relevant to many developing countries, is the question of how to save what remains of the world's tropical rainforests.

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Delegates are gathering in Copenhagen, Denmark, to reach a consensus on a global warming treaty.

Thomas J. Donohue
Special to CNN

There's been a lot of gloom surrounding the climate talks in Copenhagen, Denmark, and let's face it, some of it is well-founded. Trying to get 192 countries to agree on a new treaty would be tough even in the best of economic times, and these aren't the best of economic times.

Nevertheless, I remain optimistic that a workable climate change agreement is possible over time if the governments and business communities agree on some fundamental principles. Let me suggest what some of those principles should be.

First, whatever we do should not harm our economies or destroy jobs. Our policies must embrace the aspirations of people everywhere for a better life. We should never stand in the way of progress that reduces poverty, measurably improves health and living conditions, and restores human dignity. The fact is, we can't have healthy environments without first having healthy economies.

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Anderson Cooper | BIO
AC360° Anchor

The Amazon rainforest is the largest in the world and covers nearly 70 percent of Brazil. The rainforest produces about 20 percent of the Earth's oxygen and plays a big role in controlling the climate of the entire planet. The Amazon also is home to more species of plants and animals than any other ecosystem on Earth, 30 percent of the world's total.

About one-fifth of the Amazon has disappeared in the past three decades. The causes are many: Logging, both legal and illegal; construction of homes and roads; and agri-business clearing land to plant crops or graze cattle.

The Brazilian government says the situation is getting better and that federal police are cracking down on illegal logging, in particular. But critics say there aren't enough agents on the ground and that more land needs to be put under federal protection.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta | BIO
AC360° Contributor
CNN Chief Medical Correspondent

Located in the South Pacific, the Carteret Islands are fighting a losing battle against the ocean. It's estimated the six islands will disappear into the water by 2015. Papua New Guinea plans to relocate the Carteret's 2,000 residents.

But a debate centers on what is causing these islands to disappear: Is global warming to blame, or are the islands sinking into the sea, or have the residents permanently damaged the reefs that help to protect the islands from the ocean?

Katrina evacuees cross the Industrial Canal.

Tom Darden
Special to CNN

Copenhagen, Denmark, is 5,000 miles away from New Orleans, Louisiana. But representatives of the 192 nations gathering this week at the climate change conference need to keep the memory of a flooded New Orleans in mind.

Two years ago this month, the Make It Right Foundation was launched to help the families of New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward rebuild their lives and community. That was already two years after Katrina, and the once-vibrant neighborhood was still in ruins, failed by government and frustrated by a lack of progress.

Working with the Lower 9th Ward community, with families who lost everything in Katrina, with cutting-edge architects and inventive builders, we learned some truths and made some discoveries we would like to share with the climate change negotiators in Copenhagen:

We need urgent action. Climate change is real and happening now. The world already is reeling from the consequences - rising sea levels, more violent storms, more frequent flooding and prolonged droughts. Hurricane Katrina, the killer heat wave in Europe, China's floods and the enduring drought in Australia are not anomalies, they are harbingers.

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Anderson Cooper | BIO
AC360° Anchor

In Alaska and across the Arctic, the average amount of sea ice has been decreasing during the past few decades. This could be huge trouble for polar bears, which live and hunt primarily on sea ice.

About 4,700 polar bears live in Alaska, U.S. officials say. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has recommended the polar bear be placed on the Threatened Species list.

Alaskan residents also are dealing with a changing environment. Temperatures in the state, which is twice the size of Texas, have warmed more than 3 degrees in the past 50 years and residents are seeing the expensive consequences of melting permafrost, which causes soil erosion and some flooding. Scientists say what happens in the state, one-third of which lies within the Artic Circle, is a harbinger of what might occur in the contiguous U.S.

More than 20 percent of the nation’s water treatment systems have violated key provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act over the last five years.

Charles Duhigg
The New York Times

More than 20 percent of the nation’s water treatment systems have violated key provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act over the last five years, according to a New York Times analysis of federal data.

That law requires communities to deliver safe tap water to local residents. But since 2004, the water provided to more than 49 million people has contained illegal concentrations of chemicals like arsenic or radioactive substances like uranium, as well as dangerous bacteria often found in sewage.

Regulators were informed of each of those violations as they occurred. But regulatory records show that fewer than 6 percent of the water systems that broke the law were ever fined or punished by state or federal officials, including those at the Environmental Protection Agency, which has ultimate responsibility for enforcing standards

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Anderson Cooper | BIO
AC360° Anchor

The ice sheet that blankets the largest island in the world holds about 630,000 miles of ice. But NASA estimated in 2005 that the ice sheet was losing about 200 gigatons per year – roughly 200 times more than the amount of water Los Angeles uses every year.

At a research camp on the ice sheet, scientists say temperatures are up 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit in the past 30 years, more than double the global average. The researchers at Swiss Camp are studying how fast the ice is melting and the way it is changing locally and what impact that will have on the world.