The 30-odd signatories to the Copenhagen Accord (responsible for more than 80% of the global CO2 emissions) should submit their greenhouse gas reduction pledges in the coming days: the United Nations have fixed a 31 January deadline for signatories to commit to CO2 emissions cuts. The proposal of a 30% emissions reduction target has been debated by member state representatives on Wednesday 20 January in Brussels. Despite pressures coming from several member states to upgrade unilaterally the emissions cuts target to 30% compared to 1990 levels, it turns out that the initial offer of a binding 20% reduction will be maintained…

Echoing environmental organizations like WWF and Greenpeace, countries such as the UK and the Netherlands had pushed for a 30% goal: "We definitely think we should maintain the 30 percent offer. We think it is very, very important. It has always been a conditional offer but it is a very important signal that it is maintained", UK energy and climate minister Ed Miliband told reporters on Monday 18 January. For his part, French environment minister Jean-Louis Borloo added: "It is not a question of going to 30 percent blindly. Nobody would accept that. We will go to 30 percent depending on the commitments that are published", EU Observer reported.
Ahead of Wednesday’s meeting, Spanish Secretary of State for Climate Change Teresa Ribera was pessimistic on the likelihood of a 30% target: "The final evaluation is that it probably cannot be done", she told journalists after the informal meeting of EU environment ministers in Seville on 14-17 January. Prior to the Copenhagen talks of last December, the United Nations had called for wealthy countries to cut emissions by 25-40% by 2020 in order to keep the average rise in global temperatures to within two degrees Celsius of pre-industrial levels. But Italy and Poland feared that costs for domestic industry and households would be raised sharply without similar commitments by other powers. That’s why Polish and Italian representatives have called the EU to stick to a 20% target. The possibility of going to 30% remains conditional: it will depend on the commitments of other industrialised countries. Member States representatives also agreed to submit a single target for 2020 rather than national targets.

On Wednesday 20 January, Spanish Minister of the Environment and Rural and Maritime Affairs Elena Espinosa announced before the European Parliament in Strasbourg that the immediate implementation of the Copenhagen Accord will be a priority for the Spanish Presidency. The sooner the EU will work on it, the better it will be for an efficient international negotiation process in relation to the upcoming Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 16) that will be held in Mexico in December 2010. Ms. Espinosa also emphasised the importance of completing the formal communication process to inform the UN of the EU’s commitment to reducing emissions before 31 January.
Reacting to Wednesday’s meeting, Jo Leinen (S&D, DE), Chairman of Parliament’s committee on the environment, public health and food safety, sent a letter to the editor of European Voice on Friday 22 January to argue in favour of a binding 30% target. Mr. Leinen emphasises that “in a world where other large economies are prepared to set themselves ambitious targets, the EU should feel prepared to raise the bar of its own ambition.” He also believes that far from being an economic constraint, the transition towards a low-carbon economy will have “distinct economic advantages”. “Politicians have a duty to set a direction that allows such investment and growth. It is in the EU's own self-interest to set a high target because of the rewards that will follow”, he adds.