EUROPEAN leaders have agreed to cut, by 2030, greenhouse-gas emissions in
the 28-nation bloc to at least 40 per cent below 1990 levels.
The deal is aimed at countering climate change and setting an example for
the rest of the world ahead of key international climate negotiations next
year.
A package agreed by leaders at an EU summit after lengthy negotiations also
requires climate-friendly, renewable energy to provide at least 27 per cent
of the bloc’s needs and demands that energy efficiency increase by at least
27 per cent in the next 16 years.
European Council president Herman Van Rompuy called the deal “ambitious and
balanced”. He said: “It was not easy but we reached a fair decision. It
sets Europe on an ambitious yet cost-effective climate path.”
The decision makes the EU the first major economy to set post-2020
emissions targets ahead of a global climate pact that is supposed to be
adopted next year in Paris.
Other countries, including the US and China, are bound to be measured
against the EU goals as they present their own emissions targets.
EU Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said: “This agreement keeps
Europe firmly in the driving seat in international climate talks ahead of
the Paris summit next year.”
But environmental activists said that the agreement falls short of what the
bloc should have done.
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