By Anne-France White - 20th February 2007
The EU’s environment ministers meet in Brussels today in a bid to agree on common targets to reduce climate change.
But agreement is likely to prove elusive given the deep divisions between EU countries.
The meeting, which will be chaired by German environment minister Sigmar Gabriel, is the first environment council under the German EU presidency.
Ministers will primarily discuss reducing greenhouse gas emissions – with the European commission proposing an initial 20 per cent reduction of CO2 emissions by 2020.
The commission says the 20 per cent reduction is just a starting point, and that it would be ready to go up to 30 percent if other regions join in.
But the caps are being resisted by Hungary and Poland, which want to drop binding targets on reducing CO2 levels after 2012.
Meanwhile environment ministers from the UK, Spain and Slovenia have written a letter calling all member states to commit to serious climate action.
"Of course, the climate change challenge will not be solved solely by the actions of the European Union."
"But we are 27 countries and over 490 million people. And in 2004, these 27 countries emitted over 6,000 million tonnes of greenhouse gases," the ministers said in the letter.
"Failing to grasp this opportunity would have serious implications for further urgent progress - as well as for the credibility of the European Union as a strong and leading international environmental player."
Other topics on the agenda include targets on renewable energy and the use of biofuels, topics on which EU countries have so far failed to reach consensus.
The meeting is intended to serve as a basis for energy talks by European leaders at the EU summit on 8-9 March.
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