Climate: EU leaders agree to flexible targets for 2020[fr][de] 

EU heads of state and government on 23 March agreed that a 15-30% cut in greenhouse gas emissions "should be considered" for 2020 "and beyond, in the spirit of the conclusions of the Environment Council" earlier this month.

However, at the insistence of Germany and Austria, the summit conclusions did not mention any precise reduction targets after 2020, refusing to take on the 60-80% cuts proposed by environment ministers at their last meeting for the horizon 2050.

EU leaders also insisted that the 15-30% reduction range "be viewed in the light of future work on how the objective can be achieved, including the cost-benefit aspect".

The outcome of such analyses is likely to be closely linked to the outcome of global climate negotiations to be launched in Montreal later this year. In this respect, the leaders emphasised their "determination to reinvigorate the international negotiations" and to try to ensure "the widest possible cooperation by all countries" in an effective international response. 

They added that global responses should try to involve "major energy-consuming countries, including those among the emerging and developing countries", namely China and India.

Greenpeace hailed what it described as a "landmark climate decision by European heads of state". It particularly welcomed that EU leaders endorsed "for the first time the goal of keeping global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels". This, says Greenpeace, "gives concrete shape to the ultimate objective of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change".

The EU employer organisation UNICE expressed its disappointment that EU leaders agreed on specific quantitative GHG reduction targets for 2020. According to UNICE, the targets should have instead been developed "alongside other global partners" and will "likely further complicate negotiations [on] global cooperation to combat the risks of climate change".

Although it welcomed the EU summit decision as "an important step forward in the battle against climate change," environmental NGO Friends of the Earth was more critical. "We are, however, deeply disappointed that the target agreed […] is both weak and ambiguous. […]An ambiguous target is also unhelpful to European business investments plans. We would have preferred the EU to set Europe on a reduction pathway, with annual regular annual reductions, leading to minus 30% by 2020".

WWF paid tribute to EU leaders for having "set the stage for global negotiations" and confirming Europe's lead on climate change. However, the head of the climate and energy programme in Brussels, Dr Stephan Singer, added that EU "leaders now need to follow up in their own countries". Singer pointed to key decisions to be taken in the near future including energy efficiency legislation, targets for renewable energy and a strengthening of the EU emissions trading scheme to cut carbon emissions.