The European Commission plans to propose new mandatory targets for EU nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions, EC president Jose Manuel Barroso said today.
European Union member states already face targets up to 2012 to cut emissions under the international Kyoto Protocol on global warming, while its industry faces caps on carbon dioxide under the bloc's carbon-trading scheme.
The EU executive body is planning to outline targets for the period after 2012 - when the first Kyoto period expires - in a policy paper in January as part of a package of energy proposals for the 25-nation bloc.
EU leaders have previously backed goals to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 15-30 per cent by 2020. But those are indicative targets and not binding.
At a meeting of the German parliament's European Union affairs committee in Berlin, Mr Barroso was asked if the Commission planned to propose mandatory climate change targets.
"Regarding binding targets for climate change, yes we are going to propose them," he said. A spokeswoman for Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said the Brussels body would propose the targets in January, which the bloc would then use in talks with other countries over an extension of the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012.
The commission yesterday drew criticism from EU governments after it demanded cuts in their carbon dioxide emissions plans for 2008-2012 - a move that Mr Barroso defended. "We have been fair," Mr Barroso said. "We have to send the right signal to the market."