WASHINGTON—The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday advanced plans to limit carbon emissions from aircraft, one of a string of actions President Barack Obama is pursuing in his climate agenda that affects large swaths of the U.S. economy.

The EPA issued a final scientific assessment that concluded carbon emissions from aircraft endanger public health and welfare, a legal prerequisite the agency must take before regulating those emissions.

Whether the EPA follows through with proposed rules depends largely on who wins the presidential election in November, since any rule couldn't be completed by January.

Presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has said she would keep pursuing and expand Mr. Obama's climate regulations; Republican nominee Donald Trump has questioned the scientific findings underpinning the Obama administration's climate rules and has vowed to repeal them.

EPA officials said last year when first proposing the aircraft scientific assessment that any regulation would be implemented in coordination with the International Civil Aviation Organization, a branch of the United Nations, which is drafting a global standard for airline carbon emissions.

Emissions from aircraft represent about 2% of total global carbon emissions, and the U.S. is the largest contributor to global aviation greenhouse gases, according to federal data. The EPA said aircraft are the third-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. transportation sector.

"EPA has already set effective [greenhouse gas] standards for cars and trucks and any future aircraft engine standards will also provide important climate and public health benefits," said Janet McCabe, EPA's Acting Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation.

The finding issued Monday is the latest in a broad array of regulatory actions the Obama administration has taken over the last several years to clamp down on greenhouse gas emissions that most scientists blame for climate change.

The cornerstone of Mr. Obama's agenda is a rule cutting carbon emissions from hundreds of coal-fired power plants, a regulation the Supreme Court temporarily blocked in a rare move earlier this year. Other pillars include fuel-efficiency standards for cars and trucks and regulations cutting methane emissions from oil and natural gas drilling.

Write to Amy Harder at amy.harder@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 25, 2016 11:25 ET (15:25 GMT)

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