WASHINGTON, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Thursday approved a controversial climate change bill, by a vote of 11 to one.

    Democrats on the Committee ignored a Republican boycott and used their majority to approve the legislation, which require U.S. industry to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases 20 percent by 2020, from 2005 levels.

    "I think this is a great signal for Copenhagen that there's a will to do what it takes to advance this issue," committee Chairman Barbara Boxer told reporters after her panel voted.

    Republicans, who boycotted the deliberations for three consecutive days, said they would oppose the bill until they had a "comprehensive analysis" of the economic impact of the legislation from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

    Boxer said the Republican demand for more analysis was "duplicative and waste of taxpayer dollars."

    Of the 12 Democrats present at the vote, only Senator Max Baucus, who chairs the powerful Senate Finance Committee, voted against the bill.

    Baucus said the bill's call for a 20 percent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2020 was "too high." He would like to see that target lowered to 17 percent, with a trigger to raise it to 20 percent if other countries adopted similar measures.

    After the Environment and Public Works Committee approved the bill, several other Senate committees will also weigh in with their draft bills before a bill receives a vote in the full chamber.

    "Advancing the bill is a necessary step on the road to garnering the 60 votes we need,'' said Boxer, who introduced the bill along with Senator John Kerry in late September. "We are pleased that despite the Republican boycott, we have had the will to move this bill forward."