United States President Barack Obama has announced a new climate action plan to limit the emission of greenhouse gases in the United States.
As part of a new national climate action plan, Mr Obama said the Environmental Protection Agency will come up with new standards governing carbon standards for power plants.
In a speech at Georgetown University on Tuesday, he said there are currently no federal limits to the amount of carbon emissions that power plants can pump into the atmosphere.
Mr Obama said he would like to see a market-based solution to climate, but the problem demands attention now.
He said he will use his executive powers to enforce the new rules and sidestep the gridlock in Congress.
The BBC reports other parts of the plan look likely to face political opposition and legal challenges.
House Speaker John Boehner has called the plans "absolutely crazy".
The president reaffirmed his 2009 commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 17% below 2005 levels by the end of the decade.
But critics say these reductions are less aggressive than European Union targets.
The centrepiece of the plan is a memorandum to impose limits on carbon emissions from new and existing power plants. But the BBC reports it is unclear how strict these limits will be.
Last year, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed regulating emissions from new power plants but that plan was delayed.
Seven state governors have already written to the president, calling on him to abandon this proposal,
A statement issued by the White House said the 12 hottest years on record all occurred in the past 15 years.
Administration officials have previously rejected any prospect of a "carbon tax".
