EU confronts its commitment to curb global warming - Reuters

[Eugene]

EU confronts its commitment to curb global warming

By Jeff Mason
Reuters
Tuesday, February 20, 2007; 5:23 AM

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union states debated how far they are willing to go
to fight climate change on Tuesday as the 27-nation bloc forms what could become
the world's most ambitious strategy to curb global warming.

A draft statement to be agreed at a meeting of EU environment ministers, obtained
by Reuters, endorses a plan to cut EU greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20
percent by 2020 compared to 1990 levels.

It also says the bloc would be willing to reduce its emissions by 30 percent by 2020
if other industrialized nations made similar cuts and "economically more advanced"
developing countries contributed too.

But officials said Hungary and Poland, which joined the EU in 2004, opposed making
the 20 or 30 percent targets mandatory.

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Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/20/AR2007022000209.html