WASHINGTON — Dousing rampant speculation, President Barack Obama decided to travel to Copenhagen next month and spell out U.S. goals for curbing greenhouse gas emissions at a widely anticipated, high-stakes global climate summit.

The president will take part in the conference Dec. 9 before heading to Oslo to accept the Nobel Peace Prize. In a statement today, the White House called Obama's decision "a sign of his continuing commitment and leadership to find a global solution to the global threat of climate change, and to lay the foundation for a new, sustainable and prosperous clean energy future."

The president will lay out his goals for reducing the United States' carbon dioxide emissions, pledging to cut heat-trapping pollution by about 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020. That target reflects the still-unfinished climate legislation on Capitol Hill.

A House-passed bill would slash heat-trapping pollution somewhere in the range of 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020. A Senate bill seeks a 20 percent reduction over the next decade, but that number is likely to come down to win the votes of moderate Democrats.

The European Union has urged the United States, as well as China, to deliver greenhouse gas emission targets at the summit, saying their delays were hindering global efforts to curb climate change.