"The president has laid out ambitious goals for climate policy," said Michael Levi, climate change expert at the Council on Foreign Relations.

In addition to measures promoting environmentally-friendly industries contained in Obama's economic stimulus package, the US Environmental Protection Agency earlier this month declared carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases a health risk, a landmark U-turn that could impact climate change regulation.

Greenhouse gases, primarily CO2, are emitted by cars, aircraft and coal-burning power plants and are widely blamed for global warming.

The EPA appears to be paving the way for regulating about seven billion tons of carbon dioxide spewed into the atmosphere annually by about 1.5 million polluters, which may now fall under the jurisdiction of the 1970 Clean Air Act.

However, the White House said it would prefer to avoid CO2 regulation, arguing the adoption of a law introducing a ceiling for greenhouse gas emissions as well as a so-called "cap and trade" system would create strong economic incentives to develop new clean energy sources and create millions of new jobs.

Obama has urged Congress to create such a market and has included in his first budget proposals a call to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 14 percent by 2020, compared to their 2005 level.

Responding to the president's appeal, the House of Representatives unveiled in late March draft energy legislation calling for a 20-percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.

Congressional hearings last week revealed strong opposition to the "cap and trade" principle from the Republican minority, which strongly represents industry and business circles, particularly coal and oil companies.

Citing an "independent" study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, influential Republican congressman Mike Pence insisted an emissions market would cost the average American family 3,128 dollars a year and eventually result in the loss of millions of jobs.

However, centrist Democrats are also said to be concerned by the proposals to create a CO2 reduction mechanism without including such countries as China and India.

"This bill will not do that if we don't find a way to include the developing world, China and India," said Senator Evan Bayh, the leader of a centrist Democratic group.

Senator Richard Lugar, a moderate Republican from Indiana, warned: "The absence of credible commitments from China, India and other major developing countries would constitute a severe obstacle to climate change legislation in the United States and elsewhere."

Without the support of centrists from both parties the emissions bill had little chance of being adopted, Levi warned.

But he said he believed the president "can be successful if he is patient and pragmatic ... And he showed that he can be both."

earlier related report
US 'ready to lead' climate change fight: Clinton
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told envoys from 17 major economies meeting here Monday that the United States is ready to lead the fight against global climate change.

President Barack Obama "and his entire administration are committed to addressing this issue and we will act," Clinton told delegates from major European countries, China, India, Indonesia and other powers.

"The United States is fully engaged and ready to lead and determined to make up for lost time both at home and abroad," she told a forum Obama set up to build political momentum for the climate talks in December in Copenhagen.

"The United States is no longer absent without leave," she said alluding to widespread criticism that the preceding administration of president George W. Bush played down the threat from climate change and failed to do much about it.

German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel hailed the US turnaround, saying he was glad "the Americans are no longer standing aside but are participating actively in negotiations about climate protection."

"The atmosphere in the negotiations is completely different from how it used to be under the previous US administration," he said.

But he warned that the negotiations would be tough.

"I don't expect a breakthrough before the UN conference in Copenhagen in December," he said.

Carroll Muffett, campaigner for the environmental group Greenpeace, called for tougher action by Obama and the US Congress to commit the United States to reducing greenhouse gases.

"It is very encouraging to see the president really re-engaging and committing the US to be part of the answer," he told AFP. "At the same time, what the US has brought to the table remains woefully inadequate."

For Clinton, there is no dispute about the evidence behind climate change.

"We know climate change threatens lives and livelihoods. Desertification and rising sea levels generate increased competition for food, water and resources," said the chief US diplomat.

"But we also have seen the dangers that these trends pose to the stability of societies and governments. We see how this can breed conflict, unrest and forced migration," she said.

"So no issue we face today has broader long term consequences or greater potential to alter the world for future generations," she asserted.

The chief US diplomat said the United States and its fellow participants must cooperate to work on new policy and new technologies needed to resolve the global crisis.

In introducing Clinton, Todd Stern, the US special envoy on climate change, said: "We will be working hard because the stakes are high and time is short."

The talks in Washington, which closed to the media after Clinton's speech, are among several forums on the way to a UN meeting in Copenhagen in December aimed at sealing an international pact for curbing greenhouse gases beyond 2012.

That is when the obligations under the Kyoto Treaty -- rejected by Obama's predecessor George W. Bush -- are set to expire and be replaced by the Copenhagen deal.

The Bush administration maintained that Kyoto would be too costly for US businesses to implement and called on developing countries to do more.

Represented here are Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, the European Commission, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, the United States, Denmark and the United Nations.

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