EU Says Germany Stifling Progress on Climate Change

Germany’s lack of progress in cutting greenhouse gas emissions is holding back international efforts to combat global warming, the European Union’s Environment Commissioner was quoted as saying on Sunday.

In an interview with Bild am Sonntag newspaper, Stavros Dimas said Germany, which currently holds the bloc’s presidency, was a long way from leading the way on tackling climate change, and urged the country to live up to its responsibilities.
“A number of other countries are closer to their Kyoto targets, for example Great Britain and Sweden. Then there are others who are hiding behind Germany,” he said.

“Only once Germany puts all the nice speeches into practice will the others no longer be able to hide. If Germany blocks, the rest of Europe doesn’t play along. And if Europe doesn’t play along, neither does the rest of the world,” he added.

Planet Ark