EU hails climate deal as example for the world

[one...two...tree 2,762]

By ROBERT WIELAARD and ARTHUR MAX, Associated Press

BRUSSELS, Belgium – European nations on Friday dared the United States, Russia and China to follow their lead on global warming after agreeing on a plan to meet the so-called "20-20-20" targets: reducing greenhouse emissions by 20 percent and ensuring that 20 percent of energy comes from wind, sun and other renewable sources by 2020.

But activists said the plan was fatally weakened by a raft of concessions to eastern Europe and heavy industry at a time of worldwide economic crisis.

Stavros Dimas, the European environment commissioner, said the package put the 27-nation European Union on a path to a low-carbon economy.

"We are the only region in the world that is reducing emissions," Dimas said on the sidelines of a U.N. climate conference in Poznan, Poland, calling the bloc an example that others should follow.

Environmentalists said the concessions made the plan ineffective.

"The deal is a disaster, it's disgraceful," said Stephen Singer, a climate specialist for WWF International. "If the world follows the example of the EU, it is on a trajectory to disastrous climate change."

The plan increased the amount of emissions Europeans could offset by sponsoring green projects in developing countries. Armed with that opt-out, Singer said Europe's actual emissions reductions would be a mere 4 percent, not the 20 percent the EU claims.

The Brussels summit coincided with the end of a two-week, 190-nation U.N. conference in Poznan that worked on a global climate treaty to be adopted next year in Copenhagen, Denmark. The treaty would replace the expiring Kyoto Protocol, which required the EU and other industrial countries to cut carbon emissions by an average 5 percent by 2012.

The EU leaders held out an inducement to the Poznan negotiators: If a global climate deal can be reached in Copenhagen, the EU will go even further, cutting its greenhouse gases by 30 percent by 2020.

President George W. Bush has refused to accept mandatory restrictions on the U.S. economy intended to cut carbon emissions, both as outlined in the Kyoto accord and those now being considered. While the United States signed the Kyoto agreement, it was never ratified by the Senate and Bush essentially scrapped it. Since 1990 U.S. emissions have increased by 16.7 percent.

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who was at the Poznan conference, said he expects the United States to have a climate policy in place within a year that will allow it to join the worldwide effort to combat global warming.

President-elect Barack Obama has called for Congress to establish greenhouse gas limits that would reduce emissions to their 1990 levels by 2020 and cut them another 80 percent by 2050. He also pledged to invest $15 billion a year to develop clean energy projects that produce fewer greenhouse gases.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081212/ap_on_re_eu/eu_eu_summit

[mkg265 2]

If I'm reading this write, its good news for Albania's bid to join the EU since they create all their power via hydroelectric dams. Including Albania would increase the percentage renewable energy used and help the EU meet their guidelines.

2012...I can feel it!!!

[one...two...tree 2,762]

If I'm reading this write, its good news for Albania's bid to join the EU since they create all their power via hydroelectric dams. Including Albania would increase the percentage renewable energy used and help the EU meet their guidelines.

2012...I can feel it!!!

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Steven,

I have been offline till about 2 hours ago. How many cans do I need to transfer from the blue recycling container into the trash? Just tell me, don't make me count.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Steven,

I have been offline till about 2 hours ago. How many cans do I need to transfer from the blue recycling container into the trash? Just tell me, don't make me count.

LOL...just throw them in the front of your house. I'm sure some passersby will take them. It's like throwing your money away.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Steven,

I have been offline till about 2 hours ago. How many cans do I need to transfer from the blue recycling container into the trash? Just tell me, don't make me count.

LOL...just throw them in the front of your house. I'm sure some passersby will take them. It's like throwing your money away.

no passerbys here... dead end

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Steven,

I have been offline till about 2 hours ago. How many cans do I need to transfer from the blue recycling container into the trash? Just tell me, don't make me count.

LOL...just throw them in the front of your house. I'm sure some passersby will take them. It's like throwing your money away.

no passerbys here... dead end

If you toss them, they will come...

[mawilson 2,133]

I can see the UK is leading the way when it comes to renewables, just behind Luxembourg