China, which is home to the infamously smoggy Beijing, has vowed to cap its carbon emissions by 2016.

Coming the day after America said power plants would reduce emissions by 30 percent, the announcement came from He Jiankun, chairman of China's Advisory Committee, who spoke at a Beijing climate conference, USA TODAY reported.

China and the U.S. are the world's biggest contributors to pollution, with China substantially ahead. Their respective announcements about emission caps are important steps forward, Christiana Figueres, the U.N.'s top climate official, told USA TODAY.

The official went on to say that despite these promising steps, the world has a long way to go when it comes to addressing climate change and pollution.

"We need ever higher ambition by all nations in the run-up to the U.N. climate convention meeting in Paris in 2015--ambition that can match emission reductions and support for adaptation in vulnerable countries and communities with the sobering scientific reality," Figueres told USA TODAY.

As the U.S. implements carbon emission regulations, more countries should be influenced to do the same, she said.

"I fully expect action by the United States to spur others in taking concrete action--action that can set the stage and put in place the pathways that can bend the global emissions curve down in order to keep worldwide temperature rise under 2 degrees Celsius this century," Figueres said in a statement on Sunday, as quoted by USA TODAY.

The Environmental Protection Agency proposed a plan on Monday to reduce power plant emissions as the country gradually switches to other energy sources, USA TODAY reported. President Obama has asked the EPA to finalize the plan by June 2015, after which states will have a year to figure out how to stay within the new regulations.

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