Climate front

摘要

Barack Obama wants to be the first US president to confront climate change head on. With an eye toward global climate talks in Paris later this year, Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on 3 August rolled out his country’s first federal rules to curb greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from power plants. Obama knows that the inevitable court challenges to follow will outlast his presidency. But by issuing a final rule so late in his term, he is drawing a demarcation line that will help define the 2016 presidential race. With the power sector accounting for nearly a third of US GHG emissions, Obama’s Clean Power Plan (CPP) will require states to meet new abatement targets for around 3,100 existing power plants. The regulation will cut their emissions by 32pc from 2005 levels by 2030, the EPA says.