New emissions initiative developed in US

Ten US states have come together to devise their own rules and limits on global warming and emissions, it has emerged.

As there are no official government guidelines on regulating emissions, ten neighboring states from Maryland to Maine have founded the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).

The scheme will aim to cap carbon dioxide emissions from 233 power plants from the beginning of 2009 and may even provide an outline for the emissions plans of neighboring states and countries, planetark.com relates.

Lance Pierce, director of the climate programme at the Union of Concerned Scientists commented: "Up-to-date accurate emissions data are crucial and cap and trade systems should include a provision for updating the cap within a reasonable time before it actually takes effect."

The US was thought to be the world's largest emitter carbon dioxide gases until this was called into question earlier this year by figures from the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency which suggested that Chinese emissions are now the higher.