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US president George Bush is to reject industry-backed plans to impose limits on carbon dioxide emissions in his state of the union address.

The president will instead flag up alternatives to fossil fuels, according to White House spokesman Tony Snow.

Now the call by Exelon, the largest US utility by market value, General Electric and Lehman Brothers and another seven firms for a cap on CO2 emissions is likely to fall on deaf ears.

In a letter to the president, they said: "We can and must take prompt action to establish a coordinated, economy-wide market-driven approach to climate protection."

Also signing the letter were businesses PG&E, PNM Resources, FPL as well as Alcoa, PB America, DuPont, Caterpillar and Duke Energy.

Business leaders want to use the cap-and-trade system to reduce pollution by as much as 30 per cent within 15 years.

But Mr Snow effectively ruled out the possibility yesterday, saying: "There's been some talk about sort of binding, economy - wide carbon caps in the speech, but they are not part of the president's proposal."

He added: "The president has always believed when it comes to climate change, that the best way to achieve reductions is through innovation and to figure out ways to come up with energy sources that are going meet our economy's constant demand for energy and at the same time in a way that's going to be friendly for the environment."

The Bush administration pulled out of the Kyoto treaty in 2001, saying the protocol would unfairly harm the US economy.