Germany will accept a European Union cap on carbon dioxide emissions and drop plans to take legal action to get the amount increased, a government spokesman confirmed today.
Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel had told a Berlin newspaper yesterday, on the fringes of a UN environment meeting in Nairobi, that Germany would drop its demand for a more favourable allowance.
Brussels had insisted an annual target of 453.1 million tonnes was not negotiable and Germany considered taking legal action to get the amount reduced to 465 million tonnes.
Ms Gabriel had told the Tageszeitungnewspaper: "We accept the EU guidelines to demonstrate that we support the European emissions trading scheme."
His comments appeared at odds with the German government's opposition to the European Commission's demands.
Last month, Economy Minister Michael Glos threatened to use legal action to thwart the Commission's efforts to impose tougher quotas on carbon dioxide emissions.
A spokesman for Mr Glos confirmed he had accepted the decision after German acceptance was confirmed at a government news conference today.
"We were able to push through several of our points but on the upper level of the quotas there was no change," spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said.