EU climate meeting

The informal talks in the city of Aare were organized by Sweden - current holder of the rotating EU presidency - with the goal of forging a unified position on tackling climate change ahead of the Copenhagen summit in December. There, the international community will seek a new agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, replacing the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012.

Although many experts are optimistic about a global deal being struck in Copenhagen, they also fear that the financial crisis could lead governments to focus more on their struggling economies at the expense of environmental concerns.

EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas, speaking to delegates on Friday, stressed that the global financial crisis was "no reason to slow down" but more of an "opportunity for decisive action". He added that moving towards a low-carbon economy would allow the 27-member bloc to take advantage of "the fast-growing markets for environment technologies, services and products."

A leading British expert on the economic impact of climate change, Lord Nicholas Stern, discussed measures such as pricing carbon as well as the advantages of building up energy-efficient technology.

"We understand the basics of what we have to do" in terms of setting targets, and identifying areas where action and technology are needed, he said. "What is left is political will."

Stern told reporters that there are signs of political will in Europe, while in the US it was "emerging", both at the federal and state levels as well as in the private sector, and in China it was already underway.

However, emerging economies, such as India and China, have refused to commit to greenhouse emissions cuts until developed countries - particularly the US - do the same.

The issue generating the most debate at the conference was that of the "carbon tariff" supported by France.

Germany forcefully rejected a proposal to impose a CO2 tax on products from countries that are not taking steps to reduce greenhouse gases.

Matthias Machnig, Germany's State Secretary for the Environment, argued that the tax was not only a violation of the WTO , whose goal it is to minimize barriers to trade, but that it was a form of "eco-imperialism."

"The signal would be - and that is what some of the developing countries always fear – that this is a new form of eco-imperialism, that we are closing our markets to their products," he said. "We have to build up trust, not show what kind of economic instruments we can build up to put pressure on them."

France first promoted the idea of a carbon tax during EU climate negotiations in 2008, arguing that it would help create a "level playing field" for European companies competing with firms from countries that have not put a price on carbon emissions.

If a global pact on climate change is not achieved in Copenhagen, France wants the CO2 border tax to be reconsidered.

vj/dpa/AFP/reuters

Editor: Susan Houlton