As U.N. negotiators attempt to lower the expectations bar on the climate change talks that kick off today in Cancun, keep your eye on Todd Stern, the Obama Administration’s special climate change envoy and the U.S. government’s representative at the talks. Already he is promising U.N. officials that the U.S. will cut carbon emissions even though Congress never approved legislation and the American people are against any such measures.

Desperate to avoid any repeats of the failure that was the Copenhagen summit last December, U.N. officials assert they are not expecting or attempting any agreements among nations to cut CO2 emissions.

Not so Todd Stern who told the Washington Post:

[T]he United States is standing firm on its pledge to reduce its emissions 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020 even without domestic legislation having passed, and would not endorse any deal in Cancun that did not embody the fundamental political agreement forged last year.