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BANGKOK (AP) - Asian nations could reduce a quarter of their greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 if they increase renewable energy use, improve coal-fired power plant efficiency and switch to biofuels, a U.S. government report said Tuesday.

However, the report from the United States Agency for International Development did not mention setting mandatory greenhouse gas emission cuts, which European countries and environmentalist say has to be part of the solution.

Failing to implement cleaner technologies will result in heat-trapping greenhouse gases more than tripling by 2030 for much of Asia, USAID's report said _ the latest dire warning that inaction could be catastrophic for the planet.

"This report helps prioritize the best options to start addressing climate change and energy challenges in developing Asia today," said Olivier Carduner, director of USAID's regional mission in Bangkok. "The options are based on proven, existing technologies that will help slow carbon dioxide emission, cut costs and reduce pollution."

While echoing some of the findings reached early this month by the U.N.-affiliated Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the USAID report was dismissed by some environmentalists, who have chided the U.S. _ the world's biggest polluter _ for attempting to avoid international action on climate change.

The U.S. is one of only two industrialized countries, along with Australia, that did not ratify the Kyoto Protocol, which calls for parties to cut emissions by 5 percent below their 1990 level by 2012. The U.S. fears mandatory cuts could hurt the economy.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel _ who currently holds the rotating presidency of both the G-8 bloc of industrialized nations and the European Union _ wants the G-8's June meeting to agree to targets for cuts in greenhouse gas output, and a timetable for an agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol.

The USAID report called on Asian nations, including two of the world's biggest emitters, China and India, to increase renewable energy such as wind and biomass by 10-fold.

It also urged energy-use reductions in buildings by 30 percent, improving coal-fired power plant efficiency by 30 percent, and replacing 25 percent of oil used in the transport sector with biofuels.

Utilizing some of the available clean-energy options could help the six-largest developing Asia nations cut 3.5 billion tons from their annual emissions by 2030 _ or 25 percent from the total projected increase above 2002 levels, it said.

The environmental group Greenpeace criticized the report for failing to recommend mandatory emission cuts, and accepting the notion that coal will be the primary energy source over the next two decades.

"I have a feeling most countries will ignore this report because its coming from the United States," said Shailendra Yashwant, a regional climate campaigner for Greenpeace Southeast Asia. "It wreaks of hypocrisy and pointing fingers instead of solving problems at a home."