France, Eastern Europe Make Progress Toward EU Climate Accord - France, Eastern Europe Make Progress Toward EU Climate Accord - Katarzyna Klimasinska
France and nine eastern European countries moved nearer to a compromise on a new European Union climate change agreement, after a Polish-led coalition of new member states won a pledge for more exceptions. “We have managed to make some progress,” French President Nicolas Sarkozy said today after a meeting with Eastern European leaders in Gdansk, Poland. “Despite the financial crisis, none of the member states questions the target.” The EU is seeking to reduce fossil fuel emissions by cutting quotas of allowed pollution and pushing power producers to buy the carbon dioxide emission permits now allocated largely for free. The EU wants to introduce purchases under a so-called auction system in 2012. Poland, which gets 93 percent of electricity from coal, has previously threatened to block changes, saying they would boost inflation and hamper economic growth.
France, current holder of the 27-nation EU’s rotating presidency, doubled the exception period for Polish power utilities, so that they wouldn’t have to buy all the permits until 2019, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said today.
The EU aims for a deal by year-end, saying an accord among rich and poorer European nations would encourage the U.S. and China to sign up to a new United Nations treaty. Governments worldwide have gathered in the Polish city of Poznan to negotiate a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. “Europe must be an example for others,” Sarkozy said today.
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