Obama to unveil ‘biggest step ever’ in climate fight

Power plants account for some 40 percent of US emissions of carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change.

In the coming months, Obama is expected to visit Alaska to highlight the impact of climate change and will host Pope Francis at the White House when they are expected to make a collective call for action.

With the end of his presidency drawing ever nearer, Obama argued that the plans will lead to lower energy bills in the future for everyday Americans, create jobs in the renewable energy sector and ensure more reliable energy services.

Quite simply, he said, the United States and the rest of the world need to act now to save the planet, ahead of a major meeting of world powers in Paris in December tasked with doing just that.

Politically sensitive

In its initial proposal a year ago, the Obama administration had set the target at 30 percent power plant reductions

The tough 32-percent collective reduction drew fierce opposition from the Republican Party, which described the measures as “overreach,” “heavy-handed” and said they would have “devastating consequences for our economy.”

Gina McCarthy, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, insisted the rules were “reasonable” and “achievable.”

“They can cut carbon pollution in whatever way makes the most sense to them,” he said. “No plant has to meet them alone or all at once, they have to meet them as part of the grid and over time.”

Climate change is a hot-button issue in American politics, and cuts are politically sensitive because coal, among the dirtiest energy sources, remains a major US industry.

Even as natural gas gains in popularity, hundreds of coal-fired power plants dotted across the country provide about 37 percent of the US electricity supply, ahead of natural gas and nuclear energy.

In the video, Obama said that global warming and the reasons behind it were backed up by scientific data — some Republican opponents dispute the existence of global warming and others cast doubt on whether humans are to blame for the phenomenon.

Hillary Clinton, the Democrat hoping to take over from Obama after the 2016 election welcomed the announcement as a “significant step forward.”