8:08pm UK, Monday December 07, 2009

Adam Arnold,
Sky News Online

America’s Environmental Protection Agency has announced that greenhouse gases are a danger to human health.

The ruling will allow it to regulate emissions without the approval of the US Congress – a move designed to show President Obama is taking climate change seriously.

The president and more than 100 other world leaders, including Gordon Brown, are set to attend the end of a major climate change conference in Copenhagen, which is taking place until December 18.

The meeting is being described as the “best, last chance” to save the planet.

The Obama administration wants to show that the US, which has shunned the current Kyoto Protocol, is taking action to combat global warming, even though Congress has yet to act on climate legislation.

Around 15,000 delegates are attending the talks which aim to agree immediate action to curb greenhouse gases and come up with billions of pounds in aid and technology to help poorer countries limit emissions.

The EPA has concluded greenhouse gases are endangering people’s health and must be regulated.

The so-called endangerment finding is needed before the EPA can regulate carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases released from power plants, factories and cars.

New plan to reduce US carbon emissions

The EPA would be able to order better insulation or greener technology to reduce emissions in the US, the world’s largest economy and second biggest source of carbon blamed for global warming.

But the move has already faced fierce resistance by Republicans in Congress, which has yet to finalise legislation that would order emission cuts by 2020 of between 17% and 20% from 2005 levels.

Yvo de Boer, head of the UN Climate Change Secretariat, said of the EPA move: “This is very significant. If the Senate fails to adopt legislation (on emissions), then the administration will have the authority to regulate.”

Meanwhile, Republican politicians have seized on leaked emails from climate scientists that they say calls into question the basis behind action on global warming.

Climate sceptics claim the stolen emails from the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit show that researchers were manipulating data to support a theory of man-made global warming.

But scientists and negotiators at the Copenhagen talks have expressed anger over the email theft, calling the hacking an attempt to muddy public opinion on the issue.