The EU on Monday hailed US President Barack Obama's clean power plan as "a positive step" to cut carbon emissions ahead of a global climate summit in Paris.

Obama, announcing the first-ever limits on US power plant emissions, on Monday said plant owners must cut carbon dioxide emissions by 32 percent from 2005 levels by 2030.

"The clean power plan is a positive step forward in the genuine efforts of the United States to cut its emissions," Miguel Arias Canete, the EU commissioner for climate action and energy, wrote on Twitter.

In another tweet, Canete said the plan "gives further momentum" to the UN summit scheduled for December when the world's leaders are to meet in the French capital to hash out rules designed to limit global temperature increases to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit.)

The plan "shows US commitment to underpin its international climate pledge with domestic action," Canete said.

And in a third of his rapid-fire tweets, Canete added: "If fully implemented, (the plan) can boost clean energy and speed up the low-carbon transformation in the US."

Last November, Obama set a target for the United States, the world's second biggest polluter after China, to cut its overall emissions by 26-28 percent from 2005 levels by 2025.

Number three emitter the European Union has tried to lead by example since its member states last October agreed to cut emissions by 40 percent by 2030 over a benchmark of 1990, a binding target that is the world's most ambitious.
Source: AFP