The European Union is unlikely to compromise on its 15 percent emission cut proposal for industrialized countries during the upcoming Kyoto global warming conference, a senior EU official said Friday.
Ritt Bjerregaard, commissioner in charge of environmental issues, is in Tokyo for a two-day informal ministerial-level meeting that starts today. The meeting was organized by Tokyo in a last-minute attempt to fill in policy gaps still separating key industrialized nations, including EU members, Japan and the U.S.
Climate negotiations in Bonn last month produced no major results. Major stumbling points yet to be discussed are the amounts and kinds of greenhouse gases -- carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen suboxide and others -- should be subject to mandatory cuts.
The EU has proposed that industrialized nations curb their emissions of greenhouse gases by 15 percent from 1990 levels by 2010. "We have decided to go forward with a 15 percent reduction in 2010. This was done absolutely in a transparent way," Bjerregaard said. "A 15 percent reduction can be met in an economically sound way. It's politically realistic and technically possible."
The EU, however, has been criticized because countries such as Portugal may increase emissions by up to 40 percent from 1990 levels, although the union as a whole is calling for a 15 percent cut.