Obama to unveil historic climate change plan to cut US carbon pollution
Fri 30 May 2014
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President Obama is to use Executive Authority to unveil an historic plan to tackle carbon pollution according to the latest news reports. The proposed regulations - which follow shortly after the publication of a landmark 1300-page US report on the threats posed to the US by climate change - could cut carbon emissions by 25%. However, the President anticipates strong opposition from political opponents.
According to The Guardian, the President is expected to unveil a plan next week (2 June) that will cut carbon pollution from power plants and promote cap-and-trade, undertaking the most significant action on climate change in American history.
The plans, which are backed by rules drafted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and are under review by the White House, are expected to be more radical on cutting CO2 emissions than any so far proposed by a US President.
President Obama said in a speech to West Point graduates this week (reported in The Guardian): “I intend to make sure America is out front in a global framework to preserve our planet.
“American influence is always stronger when we lead by example. We can not exempt ourselves from the rules that apply to everyone else.”
Obama had originally hoped to cut carbon pollution by moving a bill through Congress. Four years after that effort fell apart, campaigners say the EPA rules could deliver significant emissions cuts – near the 17% Obama proposed at the Copenhagen climate summit.
The anticipated Presidential policy announcement follows soon after the publication of a landmark US report which says that climate change has moved from distant threat to present-day danger and that no American will be left unscathed.
The National Climate Assessment, a 1,300-page report compiled by 300 leading scientists and experts, is intended to be the definitive account of the effects of climate change on the US.
A draft version of the report says: "Climate change, once considered an issue for a distant future, has moved firmly into the present". It continues to say that the evidence is visible everywhere from the top of the atmosphere to the bottom of the ocean.
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