EU agrees conditional climate change offer
European Union agrees conditional offer to rest of world to help fight climate change
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Friday, 30, Oct 2009 02:59
By Richard James.
The European Union has agreed on a conditional offer to the rest of world to help fight climate change.
At a key summit in Brussels, EU leaders agreed the battle against climate change would need €100 billion (£90 billion) to be spent around the world each year by 2020 and committed itself to paying a "fair share".
The nations agreed an annual payment should be paid to developing countries to help them adapt to climate change as well as committing themselves to cut down their own carbon emissions.
However, it remains slightly unclear as to how much each country should contribute to annual payment. Nine smaller EU countries have joined together to demand that the richer EU states contribute more to the deal.
British prime minister Gordon Brown though remained upbeat in Brussels saying today: "I think this is a breakthrough that takes us forward to Copenhagen and makes a Copenhagen agreement possible.
"Europe is today showing even more leadership than before."
Agreeing a unified stance on climate change finance will prove a key test of the European Union in the run-up to December's crucial climate change talks in Copenhagen.