Eu Agrees to 20 Percent Cut in Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The European Union on Tuesday agreed to a 20 percent cut in carbon emissions by 2020 in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across Europe. The 13-year emissions cut is below the level of carbon emissions the EU pact is asking of the United States and other industrialized nations, which it would like to see impose greenhouse gas emission cuts of 30 percent during the same time frame.

The cut in carbon emissions was made binding on all 27 European Union member countries by EU ministers on Tuesday, though none of the EU members can agree on how to “share the burden”.
Great Britain and Germany, for example, have agreed to even steeper carbon emission cuts while other EU countries which are growing rapidly are to be given more leeway, mostly because of their developing nation stature.

The goal now is to cut a burden sharing deal between EU member countries before the G8 summit of industrialised countries, including Russia, in Heiligendamm in Germany, in June.

Great Britain’s Prime Minister Tony Blair is an outspoken supporter of combating climate change and a proponent of curbing greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, not just in the UK or Europe. Blair called the EU agreement “an historic milestone.”

Axcess News