Ban says U.S. climate bill plan "not enough"

By Gerard Wynn

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - A draft U.S. climate bill did not go far enough to cut greenhouse gases, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told Reuters on Sunday, three days after the plan won a key Congressional panel vote.

Ban applauded President Barack Obama's engagement on global warming but said that other countries were doing more, and added that a new global climate pact meant to be agreed in December could not wait for the United States to pass its domestic rules.

"That's what I have been doing and will continue to do," Ban said when asked if he was urging the United States to do more.

The bill passed on Thursday aimed to cut U.S. greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming by 17 percent below 2005 levels by the year 2020.

"That's clearly lower than other countries are now aiming, particularly the European Union," Ban said on the fringes of a climate change and business conference in Copenhagen.

"I appreciate President Obama and his administration taking an active role. Now we need to continue to encourage the United States to do more," he said, adding that he welcomed the vote by the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee.

The panel's approval moved the draft bill closer to a vote in the full House, which could occur by August. But it is unclear whether it would go through the Senate by December.

"That should not be any conditionality of this global deal in Copenhagen," said Ban, who earlier told reporters that a deal in December "was not an option."