Obama unveils sweeping cuts to power plant emissions: 'We have to get going'

'We are the last generation that can do something' about climate change says president in announcing requirement of 32% reduction on 2005 levels by 2030

Six years after first promising to "roll back the spectre of a warming planet", Barack Obama finally committed the US to unprecedented action against climate change on Monday, with sweeping new curbs on carbon emissions from power plants that are equivalent to taking 70% of American cars off the road.

The culmination of his long-fought battle against coal industry lobbyists and climate change sceptics in Congress was greeted with jubilation by many environmentalists who described the tougher-than-expected regulations as a "game-changer".