US climate change legislation is unlikely to pass this year due to concerns about the recession and contention over the implementation of the program, according to energy and carbon market experts.

The current cap-and-trade proposal, introduced by US Representatives Henry Waxman and Edward Markey, would cap carbon emissions and require industry to pay for every ton of greenhouse gases.

U.S. President Barack Obama's administration issued a draft rule on Tuesday aiming to cut greenhouse gasses emitted by biofuels but confirming his predecessor's target for production of corn-based ethanol.

President Barack Obama's administration will face a big test on fighting climate change when it seeks to determine if ethanol, the top US alternative motor fuel, cuts greenhouse gas emissions.

Environment ministers from major rich and developing nations signed a deal on Friday to try to slow species loss, but failed to make progress in crucial climate change talks despite US pledges of commitment.

Almost every country in the world in 2002 agreed to a "significant reduction" in the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010, but scientists say extinctions are gathering pace.

Democrats in Congress worked on Thursday to win over US lawmakers sceptical of climate change legislation, while climate leader California took another major step with low-carbon rules on fuels that could be copied nationwide.

California's newly adopted low-carbon fuel standard may mark the beginning of the end of ethanol's coveted status as the sole US alternative motor fuel.

The US state with the most cars late on Thursday approved the world's first-ever regulations to slash emissions of planet-warming carbon dioxide from vehicle fuels.

The Obama administration's declaration that greenhouse gas emissions endanger human health comes as Congress prepares legislation to significantly reduce those emissions and spur the use of cleaner alternative fuels.

Friday's announcement by the Environmental Protection Agency was widely expected among lawmakers. Nonetheless, it could influence the debate that is unfolding in a few ways:

By JAD MOUAWAD
Published: April 7, 2009

The Obama administration wants to reduce oil consumption, increase renewable energy supplies and cut carbon dioxide emissions in the most ambitious transformation of energy policy in a generation.