Republicans on Wednesday balked at President Barack Obama's climate deal with China and vowed to make all necessary moves to block executive action in reducing carbon emissions.

The GOP has long opposed Obama's carbon reduction initiatives, often arguing that China's emissions would have continued unabated anyway. But now that the administration has gained China's pledge to cap its carbon outputs, the party stands to lose its main argument.

Like Us on Facebook

Under the U.S-China deal, Beijing agreed - for the first time - to cap its carbon emissions and to increase its use of zero emission platforms, such as solar and wind power, to at least 20 percent, by 2030.

Washington, on the other hand, pledged to fast track its emissions program and reduce them to 26 to 28 percent, well below the 2005 mark, by 2025.

As congressional Republican members held their first meeting on Wednesday, GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, voiced concern for the "one-sided" deal and vowed that no diplomatic - or historic - breakthrough would change his disdain for global climate negotiations.

While China is allowed to "do nothing" for 16 years, carbon emissions regulations are wreaking havoc in his state and all over the U.S., he said.

Obama's "unrealistic" plan, which is bound to be dumped on his successor, would only increase utility and unemployment rates, he added.

GOP House Speaker John Boehner also criticized the deal and implied he would back legislation intended to block Obama's executive action to deliver on the carbon reductions he promised.

The administration has maintained that even with existing regulations - like the Environmental Protection Agency's new rule on power plants - Obama's greenhouse gas reduction projections could still be achieved.

Oklahoma's Jim Inhofe claims China's climate pledge was merely a ploy, arguing that a 20 percent energy shift to zero emission sources by 2030 was not feasible. He promised do everything he could to rein in the EPA and expose its "unchecked regulations."

The GOP's brash opposition to the U.S.-China deal has raised questions on whether both parties could follow through on their respective commitments.

White House officials have argued the new targets are still attainable under existing regulations. But with a Republican-led Congress ready to take control on January, passing a new climate bill could be impossible, said Council on Foreign Relations energy and environment fellow Michael Levi.

Additionally, U.S. officials predict that reaching China's cap on emission reduction could be achieved earlier than 2030, referring to President Xi Jinping's plans to introduce a new broad economic reform program.

However, shifting 20 percent of its energy sources to zero-emission ones by 2030 would be more difficult, they said.

To do this, Beijing would need an additional 800 to 1,000 gigawatt zero-emission generation capacity sources by 2030, a figure greater than the country's existing coal-fired power plants and close to the U.S.' total current electricity generation capacity.

TagsRepublican, GOP, Climate, Carbon emission, Greenhouse Gas, UN, U.S.-China, EPA, Barack Obama