According to a draft European Union document bloc ministers are sharply divided over proposed promises on carbon cuts as part of United Nations negotiations, with Poland at the forefront of opposition.
A meeting of environment ministers in Luxembourg on October 14 is meant to agree a joint EU stance ahead of UN climate talks in Warsaw in November and December.
Reuters Newsagency reports the EU and UN meetings will be a litmus test of whether the latest UN report on climate change is spurring or slowing the appetite for international action.
The draft seen by Reuters says the main outstanding issues for the EU related to “mitigation commitments”, or efforts to make fresh promises before 2020 within the UN context.
“Enhancing pre-2020 mitigation ambition will pave the way for an ambitious 2015 international agreement,” it said.
Reuters reports annotations to the draft say this is especially a problem for one delegation, which EU sources said was Poland.
Heavily dependent on carbon-intensive coal, Poland has repeatedly blocked EU efforts to deepen carbon cuts.
A Polish government spokesman said he could not comment further for now. The country’s environment minister has said the EU should make no extra promises before agreement on a new UN deal on climate change, expected in Paris in 2015.
Poland’s stance matters particularly because it is hosting the interim UN climate talks next month and in December.
Its environment minister, Marcin Korolec, has said the talks will be vital preparation for a new global deal and not “an empty conference”.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a UN body, said it was clearer than ever that mankind was to blame for climate change but noted a hiatus in global warming.
Within Europe, Denmark has sought to be the most ambitious champion of a shift to renewable energy and a cut in emissions.
France has also advocated new carbon goals.
The divisions at member-state level are echoed in the European Commission, the EU executive.
Reuters reports for instance, Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard, a Dane, argues environmental action is the way to generate innovation, jobs and recovery.
Industry Commissioner Antonio Tajani, who is Italian, has flagged concerns about energy costs and competitiveness.
Those differences of opinion loom over separate EU proposals to agree green energy goals for 2030 to follow on from the already agreed 2020 EU targets.
For 2020, the EU has a goal to cut carbon by 20 per cent compared with 1990 levels, which it should easily meet.
The draft says that in 2011, EU emissions were 18.3 per cent below 1990 levels, while gross domestic product grew by more than 40 per cent over the same period.
Committing EU cash to help developed nations deal with climate change, again as part of the UN process, is also expected to prompt a fierce debate at a meeting of EU finance ministers on October 15.
