EU 'jeopardising' fight against climate change

Leaders insist emerging economies need to agree to substantial emissions cuts before money is given to developing nations

David Gow and Ian Traynor in Brussels
guardian.co.uk, Friday 20 March 2009 16.30 GMT

Green campaigners today accused EU leaders of jeopardising the global fight against climate change by refusing to commit funds to the least developed countries.
At a two-day summit, which ended today, the EU's 27 leaders decided to put off making any concrete offer until October – just two months before a crucial UN summit in Copenhagen on a post-Kyoto deal to curb global warming.
Privately, Europe's leaders insisted that the US, and China and other emerging economies would have to reveal the scale of emissions cuts they are willing to bear before they made any cash offer to developing nations.
Earlier this week Yvo de Boer, the UN's senior climate change official, accused the EU of backsliding on promises it made at a 2007 summit in Bali. He declared that it was "essential" for the EU to come up with "significant financial support" for poor countries.
But documents seen by the Guardian show that, at their dinner last night, the EU leaders insisted that emerging economy countries such as China and India were becoming the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases and needed to commit to action. "They need to do more before the EU makes an offer," one said.
The EU accepts that the poorest nations need financial help and wants to play a leading role in delivering a Copenhagen deal. But the bloc is under pressure from NGOs and others to deliver tens of billions of Euros to help the least developed countries adapt to climate change and limit their emissions as their economies grow. De Boer estimates they will need up to $220bn a year by 2020.
The foreign secretary, David Miliband, said that, far from backsliding, "the EU is going into the final nine months before Copenhagen stronger and stronger".
But a raft of NGOs denounced the EU stance, with Tom Sharman of ActionAid saying it has "severely damaged the chances of a decent global climate deal this year" and accusing it of "reckless behaviour" which cast doubt over whether the EU "is serious about preventing catastrophic global warming".
Elise Ford, head of Oxfam International's EU office, said Europe was turning its back on poor countries just when they need help most. "The EU is empty-handed and in no fit state to lead the world on the two biggest issues we face today – the economic and climate crises. Europe's approach is putting millions of lives and livelihoods at peril."
Stephan Singer, director of WWF's global energy programme, said: "We understand that in times of financial crisis it is difficult to be generous and devote resources to other parts of the world but turning the responsibility around and asking developing countries to put forward proposals for cutting their emissions is a recipe for defeat in Copenhagen."
Joris den Blanken of Greenpeace said: "The EU is waiting for Godot. We have now wasted three months until the next EU summit in June. The EU has agreed it must repay its carbon debt but developing countries are going to have to think twice about joining a global climate agreement without concrete financial commitments from rich countries."
The EU's overall stance is to press for emission reductions of 30% on 1990 levels by 2020 in any global agreement – and of between 50% and 80% by 2050.