President Barack Obama will vow nationwide cuts in greenhouse gas emissions over the next 10 years at a climate change conference set for Dec. 9.

Obama had been under pressure from European nations to attend the meeting in Copenhagen. At least 75 other world leaders will be there.

The White House called the president's decision "a sign of his continuing commitment and leadership to find a global solution to the global threat of climate change."

At the conference, Obama is expected to set commitments for the U.S. on reducing carbon dioxide emission levels about 17 percent by 2020. A climate change bill pending on Capitol Hill will eventually set guidelines.

The bill, however, has caught opposition as concern grows over whether requirements in the legislation will hurt businesses and ultimately the economy.

Unlike other leaders at the conference, Obama will only stay for one day, before heading head to Oslo, Norway, to accept his Nobel Peace Prize.

The meeting's original purpose was to set a new global climate change treaty to replace the 1998 Kyoto Protocol.

Most of the leaders, however, felt the conference should be used to set an outline for future action on climate change rather than form a legally binding agreement between nations.