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Germany welcomes US climate change plan

By: Lewis Holdsworth 07/08/2015 The Federal Government Germany

General Turbines Windfarms

President Barack Obama aims to reduce USA power plant emissions by about a third. German Federal Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks has welcomed the fact that the USA is accepting the challenges posed by climate change.

Fossil fuels, especially coal, are to be replaced gradually by renewable energies. In its Clean Power Plan the US government has for the first time laid down mandatory national CO2 reduction targets for the energy sector. By 2030 emissions are to be reduced by 32 per cent of the 2005 levels. This translates as a cut nine percentage points higher than that stipulated in an earlier version of the plan.

"I'm convinced that no challenge poses a greater threat to our future - and future generations - than a changing climate," said President Barack Obama in a speech at the White House. His government aims to lead the worldwide fight against global warming before it is too late, he added.

Federal Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks welcomed Barack Obama’s plans. This step indicates that President Obama sees climate action as one of the priority issues of his second term of office, she said. His plan is "an important signal" for the UN Climate Change Conference to be held at the end of the year in Paris, said the minister.

The conference aims to achieve a carbon-neutral global economy before the end of this century, explained Barbara Hendricks at a meeting held at the end of July to prepare for the Paris conference. Only 47 of the 194 states to attend the conference have already made binding commitments to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, she reported.

The EU’s Commissioner for Climate Action Miguel Arias Canete also believes that the plan will give "additional impetus" to the Climate Change Conference in Paris. Speaking in Brussels, he stressed the will of the USA to underpin its international climate change mitigation efforts with meaningful steps within the USA.

By September 2016 the individual federal states must submit to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concrete plans laying out how they intend to realise the emissions reduction targets set for each state. The deadline for achieving targets can be pushed back by a maximum of two years. As of 2022 mandatory CO2 ceilings will apply.

The US government aims above all to encourage a shift to solar and wind power. President Obama believes that by 2020, a total of 28 per cent of electricity in the USA will be generated by wind or solar power. The Clean Power Plan is "the most important step" ever taken by the United States to protect the climate, he said. "We only have one planet. There is no Plan B."

The new regulations will affect more than 1,000 power plants, according to White House figures, including more than 600 coal-fired power plants which are the major emitters of CO2. In the USA, 40 per cent of harmful carbon dioxide emissions are generated by power plants.

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Germany welcomes US climate change plan

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