Europeans Agree to Cut Emissions Sharply if U.S. and Others Follow Suit

[Doondoo]

Seeking to persuade other nations to curb greenhouse gas emissions, European Union ministers pledged Tuesday to raise their own targets if industrialized countries like the United States made similar efforts.

European governments would be ready to cut emissions 30 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, from a current pledge of 20 percent, but only if other heavy polluters joined in, said Sigmar Gabriel, the German environment minister, who led a meeting in Brussels that formally endorsed the European targets.

Germany, the biggest European economy, was already prepared to cut its emissions even further if there was a broader agreement, Mr. Gabriel said, noting that the German Parliament had supported a 40 percent target.

The pledges, which match a proposal made by the European Commission last month, are signs that nations are gearing up for new negotiations on a global climate accord after 2012, when the first period covered by the Kyoto Protocol expires. The issue is expected to be on the agenda when Germany serves as host of a meeting in June of the Group of 8 nations. European countries are hoping to win pledges from big developing countries as well, including China and India.

“You get a deadlock in international negotiations when there’s the attitude that, ‘We’re not going to do anything until someone goes first,’ so it’s good that the ministers committed to 20 percent,” said Kirsty Hamilton, a policy consultant for the UK Business Council for Sustainable Energy, a group representing British utilities.



http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/21/business/worldbusiness/21warm.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[Porcupine]

1. When you're trapped in the bowels of the Titanic.....BAIL!!

Do NOT wait for the people around you to get the idea. Shit the world is like a crew of people on a sinking yacht arguing over who was supposed to load the life raft.

Everybody sinks or swims on this one together.

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. So true!

[Moby Grape]

2. the US's permission is not needed

not that any of this means anything

clearly,the Europeans will ignore
an agreement, or buy phoney offsets.

look at the Eu carbon allowance market,
allowances sell for less than a Euro,
down fron a high of 30

[Nihil]

6. Piss off son

Your one-track record is getting pretty boring ...
:shrug:

[Dead_Parrot]

3. And I agree to buy a beer for everyone on DU

if Skinner grows six more legs and changes his name to Boris the Spider. Which is probably more likely, to be honest.

Creepy, crawly, creepy, crawly.

[The2ndWheel]

5. This is the problem with states, economies, and growth

This is why Europe had all the empires its had over the years. Nobody wanted to give anything up voluntarily, so they all expanded, conquered, and eventually went to war.

As long as we have states that must meet the demands of their ever growing/ever consuming populations, and have economies that must grow in order to have enough money so that states can meet the demands of thier ever growing/ever consuming populations, and have every aspect of life relentlessly grow so that economies have enough money so that states can meet the demands of their ever growing/ever consuming populations, nothing will be changing.

[NNadir]

7. I agree to wear my underwear on the outside if everyone else does.