EU:Peter Sutherland, the former EU commissioner and current chairman of British Petroleum, has been appointed to a new expert group advising the European Commission on how to tackle climate change.
The group also includes Sir Nicholas Stern - author of the British government's recent report on climate change - and several other experts in the field.
Commission president José Manuel Barroso made the announcement yesterday as EU foreign ministers struggled to find agreement on a common policy to boost the use of renewable energy. At a meeting in Brussels, ministers failed to sign up to a binding target of using solar, wave and wind power to meet 20 per cent of Europe's total energy demand by 2020.
Diplomats said at least half of the 27 EU member states continue to oppose setting a legally binding target of 20 per cent with many new member states such as Poland and Slovakia balking at the target. Finland and Luxembourg are also opposing binding targets on renewables while France opposes the target unless it is widened to take into consideration its use of nuclear energy as a way to cut emissions.
Dutch European affairs minister Frans Timmermans, one of the strongest advocates of binding targets, expressed his frustration at the meeting, criticising Luxembourg for its stance. "Luxembourg says it can't comply with the targets because it has no sea or rivers to generate renewable energy but if they go on talking like this they will end up with a sea," he told journalists.
German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said ministers had narrowed differences on other points but "the central point of difference is on the binding nature of the target for renewables . . . This point remained open and will be decided at the summit," he said.
European Affairs Minister Noel Treacy said Ireland was committed to the 20 per cent goal for renewable energy. He also said that Ireland took a pragmatic approach to the thorny question of whether states should be allowed to use nuclear energy to meet their wider goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
"Each member state has the sovereign right to choose its own energy mix," said Mr Treacy, who added that Ireland would not go down the nuclear road to help it curb CO2 emissions. The nuclear energy issue is particularly sensitive with certain non-nuclear states such as Austria.
At the EU leaders' summit the German presidency hopes that member states can sign up to a binding target on renewables. It is expected all 27 states will be able to agree on a wider target to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent by 2020 and boost the use of biofuels in vehicles to 10 per cent by 2020.
Meanwhile, the 11 members of Mr Barroso's new climate change advisory group will hold its first meeting later today in Brussels. The group is expected to work on a series of new policy recommendations to tackle climate change.
A commission spokesman rejected that there was any conflict of interest in appointing the chairman of BP to the group of experts. "That would be like saying that we could not appoint anyone who had worked in the oil industry," he added.
Mr Sutherland has been chairman of BP since 1997. Last year the British oil giant was involved in one of the world's worst environmental disasters when a ruptured pipeline caused the largest oil spill in Alaskan history. However, the company is also becoming a leader in renewable energy, particularly wind power.
A spokesman for WWF, the global conservation organisation, said having Mr Sutherland on the panel was a good idea but it should include a member from a non-governmental organisation.