Deadlock on Climate Deal
March 9, 2007
"There is no agreement as yet. We've all got to show a little patience," German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters late Thursday after chairing the opening session of the two-day summit.
"We need to find common ground. I'm not without hope," she added.
The 27 heads of state and government resolved to seek a compromise deal on Friday morning.
The main sticking point to the plan, which aims to reduce emissions of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming, centered on some member countries' reluctance to agree to firm goals for the future use of renewable energy.
Merkel, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, wants the 27-nation bloc to commit to a binding target that 20 percent of EU energy needs should be met by renewable sources by 2020.
"We talked about specific obligations -- increasing energy efficiency, biofuels, renewable energy. There is a need for further discussion on these three areas," said Merkel. "Some member states were asking: 'Are we really going to achieve these goals?'" she added.
In an effort to limit the rise in average global temperatures to two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial era levels, the EU leaders are being asked to commit to cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 20 percent by 2020, from 1990 levels.
Plenty of haggling ahead
To entice the rest of the world to take bigger steps, the EU will offer to slash the emissions by a further 10 percent if nations like the United States, China and India also agree to take concrete steps.
If a deal is reached Friday there is still plenty of haggling ahead on what measures each EU nation will have to take to achieve the 20 percent average in CO2 cuts.
The EU member states have some time to make those decisions, as the Kyoto protocol on climate change lays down targets until 2012.
The EU hopes that a strong initiative here will provide impetus for the next G8 summit of industrialized nations in Germany in June.
Before the summit began, Merkel warned that the EU's credibility hung on the bloc's ability to agree on specific, long term goals for fighting global warming that other nations could emulate.
"We cannot say we came to a conclusion," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told a press conference after the leaders held talks over dinner, "but I really believe a consensus is emerging."
Divergent views
But while everyone agreed on the need to cut emissions, views obviously diverged on how to achieve this.
Some newer EU members like the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland depend heavily on carbon-heavy fuels like coal, and oppose setting a mandatory target for the use of renewable energy sources.
"The plans are too ambitious in the years to come for Poland," Polish President Lech Kaczynski said. "If we have a flexible approach... then a compromise solution would be possible."
At the other end of the spectrum lay Denmark, which claims that its economy has thrived even as it moves to newer, more sustainable energy sources.
"I think the European Union should go green and to that end we need binding targets," said Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
Embracing nuclear power?
France has said that it would accept the use of the word "binding," but in return French President Jacques Chirac has demanded that nuclear energy be brought into the plan.
Merkel said that atomic power, which meets 40 percent of French energy needs, could be included in the EU's ambitious scheme to reduce carbon emissions.
"This overall reduction of 20 percent will also depend on the question of how to use cleaner coal technology, it could possibly include nuclear energy," she conceded.
German officials were preparing a new draft document for the leaders to consider again early Friday, when they gather at European Council headquarters from 10:00 CET.