EU pushes for 30% emission cuts

2009-07-26 11:29

Stockholm - The European Union will use all its influence to get the international community to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 30% during talks on a new climate deal, Sweden's environment minister said on Saturday.

Speaking at a three-day informal meeting of EU energy and environment ministers, Andreas Carlgren said the 30% target had "broad support" among EU members but was conditional on other nations raising their limits.

The EU has already agreed to reduce CO2 emissions by 20% from 1990 levels by 2020.

"We will use the increase from 20 to 30% as a lever to gain adequate offers from other countries," Carlgren said.

Help for poorer nations

The 27-member bloc also called for short-term payments from the developed world to help poorer nations adapt to any stricter requirements that may emerge from a new anti-global warming deal.

Sweden, which currently holds the EU presidency, is in charge of the European position at UN-mandated climate change negotiations, which will aim to reach a new, worldwide pact in Copenhagen in December.

"We need to clarify that the EU is prepared to contribute," said Carlgren, referring to the three-day meeting in Are, a town in central-west Sweden, as the "last training camp before the finals."

Teresa Ribera, head of Spain's climate change office, confirmed the unity among EU members on the need for a new climate deal. "No single minister has expressed any type of disagreement regarding any elements" of the proposal, she said.

The EU is set confirm the target for the Copenhagen conference during a "super week" in October when the European Commission and the bloc's finance and environment ministers convene in separate meetings.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has made his top priority to persuade nations to agree in Copenhagen to a successor treaty to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol for reducing greenhouse gases, which expires at the end of 2012.

- AP