EU backs CO2 cuts but leaves burden-sharing open

EU member states have made a "historic decision" calling for a deal by the developed world to cut 1990 levels of CO2 emissions by 30 percent by 2020. If such an international deal fails, the EU's own emissions should be cut by 20 percent, they have said.

EU environment ministers meeting in Brussels on Tuesday (20 February) decided on new targets to curb global warming as a follow-up to the current international Kyoto Protocol in which industrialised countries have pledged to reduce the...