EU environment ministers meeting on Monday agreed they were prepared to sign up to an extension of the Kyoto Protocol on tackling climate change after phase one ends next year — but on condition the big carbon emitters committed to signing up too.
“We described an openness to join up to a second period,” Danish Climate Minister Martin Lidegaard told Reuters, adding the EU had agreed there needed to be a roadmap showing when the major carbon producers — including the United States, China, India — would also take part.
The conclusions adopted by the EU environment council in Luxembourg establish the bloc’s negotiating position ahead of the next global climate conference in Durban, South Africa, at the end of November.
