EU's climate ambitions squeak through summit row (Roundup)

Mar 26, 2010, 17:00 GMT

Brussels - The European Union's commitment to ambitious greenhouse-gas emissions reductions squeaked through a summit in Brussels on Friday as leaders first struck out, and then reinstated, an offer to step up the fight against global warming.

The U-turn highlights the difficulties EU member states are having in sticking to a common policy on global warming as EU leaders argue over how to restore their prestige in international talks.

'Since (United Nations talks in) Copenhagen, we have to approach this on a step-by-step basis, so we're going to try and develop a new negotiating dynamic (in world talks) in the coming months,' said the summit's chairman, EU President Herman Van Rompuy.

EU leaders in 2007 pledged to cut emissions to 20 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020 and to deepen the cut to 30 per cent if other developed nations make 'comparable' efforts.

But following the inconclusive Copenhagen talks, a fierce tussle has sprung up between EU states over the pledge.

Some, such as Britain and Sweden, argue that the EU should move to the 30-per-cent target immediately to pressurize other world powers.

'Europe will continue to play a leading role in pushing for a global agreement on climate change. Our objective remains a comprehensive global agreement,' British premier Gordon Brown said.

But others, especially Italy, argue that the climate-change goals would only weaken European industry.

Ahead of the EU summit on Thursday and Friday, the EU's executive, the European Commission, proposed that the climate pledge be written into the EU's new 10-year economic plan.

That would include 'an increase to 30 per cent of emissions reduction if the conditions are right,' the commission wrote.

Diplomats said that wording was written into a draft agreement presented to national leaders at the start of the summit.

But Italy and Cyprus demanded that the wording be struck out of the agreement, arguing that it weakened the terms of the 2007 deal by not referring specifically to other states' efforts.

A reworked draft agreement presented to leaders on Friday morning simply stated the 20-per-cent goal, with no mention of the 30-per-cent target.

But that, in turn, angered advocates of the higher target.

And after Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi left the summit to carry out last-minute campaigning ahead of local elections at home, the remaining leaders agreed to reinstate the 30-per-cent target, albeit in a more cautious wording.

The EU is 'committed' to the 30-per-cent shift 'provided that other developed countries commit themselves to comparable emissions reductions and that developing countries contribute adequately,' the final text read.

That is, almost word for word, the way leaders phrased themselves in 2007 when they approved the climate-change targets.

After the summit, EU Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said that she was 'very pleased with this reiterated support' for the 2020 targets.

But diplomats said that the to-and-fro disagreement indicated how divisive the climate-change goals remain, two years after they were formally adopted.

The European Commission is to present a study on how the EU could bring in the 30-per-cent goal in June. Diplomats hope that that will reduce tensions over the issue.

Also at the summit, EU leaders called for more talks on climate change with other world powers both inside and outside the UN process, and repeated earlier pledges to offer poor states some 10 billion dollars in climate aid over the next three years.