U.S. should spell out long-term climate goal, EU says
11/24/2009 01:19:00 PM

By ROBERT WIELAARD and ARTHUR MAX, Associated Press -- The United States should be ready to spell out its long-term vision for reducing carbon emissions over the next two decades, not just until 2020, the European Union said today.

With two weeks to go before a global climate conference, the EU urged Washington and Beijing to come to the Copenhagen event with meaningful bids to check their greenhouse gas emissions.

All countries are being asked to report to the summit on what actions they will take over the next decade to reduce carbon emissions or curb their growth.

But Swedish Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren said the United States should go beyond 2020 to show that it is on a steep and continuous pathway of reductions.

"It's important what they will deliver in 2025 or 2030," Carlgren said. "It would play a crucial role if they could deliver such plans."

Carlgren, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said he was pleased with the report from the White House on Monday that the U.S. would deliver an emissions reduction target to the Copenhagen conference. Washington has resisted doing so without the backing of Congress, which is not expected to pass climate legislation until next year at the earliest.

"I welcome it, but still it needs to be sufficiently ambitious," Carlgren said. "An agreement in Copenhagen will stand or fall on sufficiently ambitious targets by the U.S. and China."

Legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives would slash heat-trapping pollution by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020. A U.S. Senate bill seeks a 20 percent reduction over the next decade.

The EU has said those targets are too low and do not match the pledge by the 27-nation European block to slash emissions by as much as 30 percent below 1990 levels as part of a global agreement.

Labels: climate change, Congress, Copenhagen conference, European Union, global warming, global warming bill

 
Posted by AllGreenEditor