Obama gets critical on climate change, to unveil clean power plan

US President Barack Obama is due to unveil 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.

They 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.

President Obama's Clean Power Plan is the practical aspect of his lofty rhetoric on tackling global climate change.

Late last year, the President announced, with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, that both nations would significantly cut their carbon emissions. He also pledged, earlier this year, that the US would adopt new targets on limiting warming gases in an effort to secure a UN climate deal. To make both these pledges happen, coal fired electricity across every US state will have to be reduced.

These steps will also shore up US credibility in the international climate talks arena.