EU reaction:The European Union has to look at what science is saying about climate change and tailor its policies accordingly, the EU's environment chief said yesterday in reaction to the IPCC climate change report.
Stavros Dimas, the EU's Environment Commissioner, said that the bloc was working to achieve the two degree goal but would take into account the report's conclusions.
"Of course we have to take into account the findings of the [ UN] and formulate our policy accordingly," he said. "We have to look at what science is recommending to us."
Last month the European Commission said that the 27-nation bloc should commit to cutting its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20 per cent by 2020, compared to 1990 levels, and by as much as 30 per cent if other developed nations join in.
Mr Dimas yesterday called for an "urgent start" to international talks on an agreement which would carry on after the first period of the Kyoto Protocol concluded at the end of 2012.
"It is now more urgent than ever that the international community gets down to serious negotiations on a comprehensive new worldwide agreement to stop global warming," he said.
The environmental group Greenpeace said the UN report showed that the EU's two degree goal was the correct one.
"It's not redundant. It's the right target, and now we have to make sure that it's met," said Mahi Sideridou, Greenpeace's climate policy director.