BRUSSELS (AP) - President Barack Obama's move to limit U.S. carbon emissions may prompt an important shift by China in its climate policies, where officials are increasingly worried about the costs of pollution anyway, according to a Chinese expert and activists closely following the international negotiations.
The initiative may be a crucial move in pressuring Beijing to accept binding goals to cut greenhouse gases, while also allowing the U.S. to start catching up with the European Union in the fight against climate change.
"This is the kind of leadership that's highly needed," said Martin Kaiser, head of international climate politics at Greenpeace. The proposal should have been twice as ambitious, he added, but "it demonstrates that the Obama administration wants to seriously tackle climate change."
The plan, unveiled Monday, would reduce carbon dioxide emissions from U.S. power plants, many of which are coal-fired, by 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030.
Governments want an agreement by late next year in Paris to curb emissions of greenhouse gasses blamed for global warming. Unlike the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which exempted developing nations from emissions limits, this deal is supposed to cover every country.
The U.S. never ratified the Kyoto protocol, handing China and others an easy excuse to dodge tougher action as well.