EU setting timetable on anti-warming plan

France's Nicolas Sarkozy, center, talks with Romania's counterpart Traian  Basescu, second left, as they pose for a group photo at a two-day EU summit at the EU Council headquarters in Brussels. European Union leaders were expressing growing worries over whether their economies could escape a downturn casting fresh doubts over how the bloc intends to implement pollution cuts. Man at left is Cyprus President Dimitris Christofias, at right is EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. [AP Photo]

European Union leaders meeting Brussels were ready today to agree on a timetable for tackling measures to combat climate change, according to Reuters. The agreement among the 27 EU members is designed to set the stage for negotiations on curbing emissions when EU leaders meet with other countries, including the United States, in Copenhagen in November 2009.

"Aside from cutting emissions by at least one-fifth by 2020 from 1990 levels, EU states have agreed to use 20 percent of renewable energy sources in power production and 10 percent of biofuels from crops in transport by the same date," Reuters is reporting.

However, "EU states are divided over how to handle the needs of energy-intensive industries such as steel, cement and aluminum, how to cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from cars and whether to break up Europe's big power companies," according to Reuters.

Meanwhile, Greenpeace called the EU emissions target "way short of the mark."

To read the full Reuters report, click here.

--Craig Pittman