Concerns on whether proposed air pollution regulations in the U.S. are 'fatally flawed' have been dismissed by the organization who backs them.
"We are alive and well, and there is no fatal flaw," Gina McCarthy, administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), told CNBC Tuesday.
"The Clean Air Act has been very good for 45 years in driving down 70 percent of the pollution we've emitted, while we've tripled our GDP (gross domestic product). It's because we do it right, we have the information, we show the cost benefits, we prove that you can keep improving the environment while you grow the economy."
"So the Clean Power Plan—which is really the keystone of President (Barack) Obama's plan—is not just alive and well, but we are doing incredibly well."
In August, Obama unveiled the Clean Power Plan, which seeks to increase the required cuts in carbon emissions from the power sector in the U.S., demanding they be slashed 32 percent from 2005 levels by 2030, and ensure this legacy is preserved.
Around half of U.S. states, and numerous businesses, have since launched legal challenges to block Obama's proposals to curb CO2 emissions from power plants. The U.S. federal court who will weigh in on the plan's future will not make a decision until after the 2015 Paris Climate Conference or "COP21", according to Reuters.
Speaking to CNBC at the Paris summit, McCarthy stood firm that the EPA would win in court, as U.S. citizens are seeing the importance of climate change on their everyday lives.
"There is a sea change in the United States, because of the President's leadership, people want action and the majority of people want the Clean Power Plan to be done. We are going to win in court; the science is with us and the law is on our side."
Every time the EPA puts out a rule, industries have questioned whether the science was right and whether the EPA was "overstepping," however, on the issue of clean power, people understand the science behind it and feel the impacts, McCarthy said.
"In the U.S., there is a sea change that's happening in our energy world. We have three times more wind power, 10 times more solar power - the fastest growing sector in the U.S. economy is solar, and that's where the jobs are."
The EPA estimates that if the plan is reached in the next fifteen years, public health and climate benefits would be worth an estimated $34 billion to $54 billion a year in 2030.
"This is the biggest sea change in the U.S. on how we look at our environmental challenges associated with climate change, our public health, benefits we can get from this rule and the way we can continue to drive towards a low carbon economy."
—By CNBC's Alexandra Gibbs, follow her @AlexGibbsy and @CNBCi
