Above: U.S. President George W. Bush participates in a roundtable on advances in cancer prevention at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland January 17. - REUTERS

NEW YORK (Reuters):

Ten major U.S. corporations are joining environmental groups to press President George W. Bush and Congress to address climate change more rapidly.

The coalition, including Alcoa Inc., General Electric Co. GE.N, DuPont Co. and Duke Energy Corp. plans to publicise its recommendations on Monday, a day ahead of the president's annual State of the Union address, the Natural Resources Defense Council said.

The group, known as the United States Climate Action Partnership, also includes Caterpillar Inc., PG&E, the FPL Group, PNM Resources Inc., BP America Inc. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc..

The group will call for a nationwide limit on carbon dioxide emissions that would lead to reductions of 10 per cent to 30 per cent over the next 15 years, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.

According to a draft of the principles obtained by Reuters, the coalition would also call for a market-based emissions trading programme and emission reductions from the transportation sector.

Furthermore, the group plans to strongly discourage building new coal-fired power plants that cannot easily capture and store carbon dioxide emissions. There is currently no viable technology available to capture carbon dioxide emissions.

Speech to congress next week

Bush in his annual speech to Congress next week is likely to call for a massive increase in U.S. ethanol usage and tweak climate change policy, while stopping short of mandatory emissions caps, sources familiar with White House plans said on Tuesday.

The Democratic Party retook Congress this year and party leaders have indicated the control of greenhouse gas emissions, which scientists believe cause global warming, would be a priority.

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday she is forming a special committee to address climate change.

"The companies now recognise carbon limits are coming and they want to get ahead of the game a little bit by shaping what limits will be," said Frank O'Donnell, president of Clean Air Watch in Washington, D.C., which is not part of the coalition.

Despite the momentum for climate change legislation driven by the Democratic turnover in Congress, not much will be accomplished by this Congress, the head of a natural gas industry association said on Thursday.

"Little will be accomplished substantively," David Parker, chief executive of the American Gas Association, told an industry luncheon.

The Kyoto Protocol is the only global pact obliging signatories to cut carbon dioxide emissions, but the United States is not a member, nor are China and India. The protocol expires in 2012.