ConocoPhillips, AIG back greenhouse gas cuts

NEW YORK (Reuters) - ConocoPhillips (COP.N) and American International Group (AIG.N) joined the call for mandatory cuts to greenhouse gas emissions in the United States on Wednesday, the first major U.S. oil company and insurer to back an aggressive plan to fight climate change.

The two companies said they were joining the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, which has asked Congress to enact legislation to cut U.S. greenhouse gas levels by 10 to 30 percent within 15 years and reduce the emissions by as much as 80 percent by 2050.

"We recognize that human activity, including the burning of fossil fuels, is contributing to increased concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that can lead to adverse changes in global climate," ConocoPhillips Chief Executive Jim Mulva said in a statement.

ConocoPhillips is the No. 3 U.S. oil company and AIG is the world's largest insurer. The U.S. Climate Action Partnership is a group of businesses and environmentalists launched in January to pressure the U.S. government to move quickly to reduce greenhouse gases.

The announcements come a day after a United Nations draft report said global temperatures were on track to exceed a rise of 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 Celsius) over pre-industrial times, and governments have little time left to avert damaging temperature increases.

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had the power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, rejecting arguments that the body did not have the authority to limit pollution from new cars and trucks.

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The U.S. oil and insurance industries have been widely criticized by environmentalists as being slow to act against climate change.

ConocoPhillips' move made it the second major oil producer behind Britain's BP Plc (BP.L) to join the group and moved it away from U.S.-based oil majors Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM.N) and Chevron (CVX.N), which both have stopped short of endorsing mandatory rules on emissions in the United States.