MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Obama unveils his climate change initiative: “no greater challenge to the future of the planet”

“I'm convinced no challenge provides a greater threat to the future of the planet,” Mr Obama said. “There is such a thing as being too late.”

US President Barack Obama has unveiled what he called “the biggest, most important step we have ever taken” in tackling climate change. The aim of the revised Clean Power Plan is to cut greenhouse gas emissions from US power stations by nearly a third within 15 years.

 The measures will place significant emphasis on wind and solar power and other renewable energy sources. However, opponents in the energy industry have vowed to fight the plan.

“I'm convinced no challenge provides a greater threat to the future of the planet,” Mr Obama said. “There is such a thing as being too late.”

Those opponents say Mr Obama has declared “a war on coal”. Power plants fired by coal provide more than a third of the US electricity supply. The revised plan will aim to cut carbon emissions from the power sector by 32% by 2030, compared with 2005 levels.

“We are the first generation to feel the impacts of climate change, and the last generation to be able to do something about it,” Mr Obama said. He likened the plan to taking 166 million cars off the road in terms of environmental impact. He called taking a stand against climate change a “moral obligation”.

Mr Obama brushed off the notion that the plan is a “War on Coal” that will kill jobs and said he is reinvesting in areas of the US known as “coal country”.

“Scaremonger” tactics will not work to stop the proposal, he said.

“If we don't do it nobody will. America leads the way forward... that's what this plan is about. This is our moment to get something right and get something right for our kids,” he said

Each US state will have an emission-cutting goal assigned to it and must submit a proposal to the Environmental Protection Agency on how it will meet the target.

In a video released by the White House, Mr Obama said the new limits were backed up by decades of data showing that without action the world faced more extreme weather and escalating health problems.

“Climate change is not a problem for another generation. Not anymore,” Mr Obama said. “My administration will release the final version of America's Clean Power Plan, the biggest, most important step we have ever taken to combat climate change.”

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said she would defend the plan if she was elected to replace Mr Obama.

“It will need defending. Because Republican doubters and defeatists - including every Republican candidate for president - won't offer any credible solution,” she said. “The truth is, they don't want one.”

One Republican presidential candidate, Marco Rubio, said the plan would be “catastrophic,” while another, former Florida governor Jeb Bush, said the plan was “irresponsible and over-reaching”.