Brussels - European Union disagreements over tougher measures to combat global warming look set to dominate the bloc's summit on March 8-9, EU diplomats said Monday. The downbeat assessment came after EU foreign ministers failed to agree a legally binding 20 per cent target for slashing greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 compared to 1990 levels. Carbon dioxide emissions are widely seen as a key cause for global warming.
Ministers also disagreed on whether to make it mandatory for EU governments to increase the share of renewable energies in overall EU energy consumption by 20 per cent in 2020.
Diplomats said opposition to setting obligatory targets came from France, Poland, Finland, Luxembourg and Bulgaria with others also warning against imposing unreachable goals on governments.
"We will continue our discussions in the coming days..we do not have an agreement yet," said Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik.
A draft summit statement seen by Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa made no reference to legally binding climate change targets but said the 27-nation bloc was committed to transforming Europe into a "highly energy-efficient and low greenhouse-gas-emitting economy."
The statement added that pending a new post-Kyoto international agreement on climate change as of 2012, the EU would make a "firm independent commitment to achieve at least a 20 per cent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 compared to 1990."
An even higher 30 per cent reduction target could be endorsed by the EU for the period after 2012 provided other industrial nations agreed to such a goal and emerging nations made adequate contributions to slash their own CO2 emissions, the draft said.
The statement also toned down initial expectations that EU leaders would force European energy production companies to sell off their distribution operators to independent buyers.
Instead leaders were expected to agree to the softer option of "effective separation" or unbundling of energy supply and production activities from network operations.
The EU discord over climate change will disappoint German Chancellor Angela Merkel who will chair the EU summit. Merkel has said repeatedly in recent months that the bloc must step up the combat against global warming.
However, EU states have traditionally been reluctant to cede power on energy policy to the European Commission, arguing that such issues relate to national security.
Commission proposals for lower emissions limits on new cars sold or imported into the EU by 2012 have also run into opposition from several states and German automobile giants.
The commission had originally planned to set a a 120-grams of CO2 limit per kilometre on new cars but this was raised to 130 grams of CO2 because of intense lobbying by German carmakers.
