By Alex Morales

President Barack Obama’s newly proposed power plant CO2 rules ignited coal-fired rage in some parts of the U.S. this week. From abroad comes muted applause and relief.

The U.S. announcement could tilt the goal of UN climate change negotiations, away from an “international, legally binding” treaty, to a patchwork of national commitments. Pacts like the Kyoto Protocol, which the U.S. Senate blocked by a 95-0 vote in 1997, are probably a thing of the past, said former UN climate chief Yvo De Boer. He is now director-general of the Global Green Growth Institute in Seoul.

De Boer and I spoke last week about the Obama administration’s plans and the highly anticipated UN negotiations in Paris at the end of 2015. Preliminary talks are being held in Bonn, beginning today.

Read the Q&A from Bloomberg.net