London, 21 January 2010

The EU will likely submit a conditional 20-30 per cent emissions target to the Copenhagen Accord.

A majority of officials from the 27 member states agreed in Brussels last night to stick to the same wording used going into the UN negotiations in the Danish capital last month, an EU council spokeswoman told Point Carbon News.

A small number of representatives need to confirm the decision with their respective governments before they can officially endorse the move, she said today.

Ahead of the Copenhagen talks, the EU pledged to cut its greenhouse gas emissions 20 per cent by 2020 from 1990 levels, with an offer to deepen the cut to 30 per cent.

The offer was on the condition that “other developed countries commit themselves to comparable emission reductions and that developing countries contribute adequately,” according to the conclusions of EU leaders last October.

The modest outcome of the December summit, which resulted in the non-binding Copenhagen Accord, had divided EU nations on their next step.

Some member states favoured moving to a 30 per cent cut automatically to encourage other countries to strengthen their targets.

Other EU countries have argued the offer to move to 30 per cent should be removed from the submission to the Accord, which stipulates emission targets and actions by the end of the month.

The EU heads of state and government will meet for further discussions on climate policy on 11 February.

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