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The Obama administrations top environmental regulator sought to counter criticism from Republican lawmakers that a U.S.-China climate pact requires little of China while forcing steep U.S. emissions cuts.

Gina McCarthy, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, said China needs to take immediate steps to burn less coal and increase its use of renewable energy to meet its goal of capping carbon emissions by 2030.

This is a big change that requires a lot of action to turn their economy around, McCarthy said today at a breakfast meeting with reporters in Washington. They need to make an immediate shift.

Culminating months of behind-the-scenes negotiations, President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping issued a joint pledge last week intended to spur international talks on a climate pact. The U.S. agreed to cut emissions 26 percent to 28 percent by 2025 from its peak in 2005. China didnt agree to cut emissions, but did, for the first time, pledge to end the growth in its emissions before 2030.

Steep cuts in the U.S. compared with a cap in China were seized on by Republicans as a sign that the U.S. is taking all the pain, while China wont need to do anything for years.

In the presidents climate-change deal, the United States will be required to more steeply reduce our carbon emissions while China wont have to reduce anything, said Oklahoma Republican Senator James Inhofe, in line to head the Environment and Public Works Committee in the next Congress. A promise to peak its carbon emissions only allows the worlds largest economy to buy time.

McCarthy said at the breakfast, hosted by the Christian Science Monitor, that China cant delay if it intends to cut emissions while fueling economic growth. China also agreed to get 20 percent of its energy from non-fossil sources by 2030, a step that will require massive investments soon, she said.

Separately today, McCarthy said the agency will issue plans to limit methane emissions by Dec. 21, and said she is confident Obama wouldnt let congressional Republicans gut EPA funding or roll back environmental regulations its pursuing.

The president has been very clear in supporting this agency, she said. Hes made very clear what his priorities are.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Drajem in Washington at mdrajem@bloomberg.net

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EPA Chief Counters Republican Critics of U.S.-China Climate Deal