Green regulations will help both the environment and ailing economies, California's Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger told a 187-nation U.N. climate conference on Monday. "Of course, there are some people who say that we can't afford the fight against global warming while our economies are down," he said in a video message on the sidelines of the Dec. 1-12 U.N. meeting in Poznan, western Poland. "But the exact opposite is true," he was quoted as saying by Reuters. California, which is the world's fifth biggest economy on its own, has been leading other U.S. states in the fight against climate change. "The green rules and regulations that will help save our planet will also revive our economies," the governor aid. The Poznan talks are reviewing progress towards a new global pact to fight climate change meant to be agreed at the end of 2009 in Copenhagen. The talks have been overshadowed by the global financial crisis. Schwarzenegger also said he would attend the Copenhagen talks to support U.S. President-elect Barack Obama. The Poznan talks are a step on the way to agree a new worldwide climate pact to replace the Kyoto Protocol when it runs out in 2012. The United States is the only industrialized nation that has not ratified the Kyoto treaty.
