BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders vowed to maintain ambitious targets to battle climate change despite the economic crisis, saying green industries would drive growth, deliver new jobs and protect against oil shocks.
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders vowed to maintain ambitious targets to battle climate change despite the economic crisis, saying green industries would drive growth, deliver new jobs and protect against oil shocks.
Wednesday's meeting in Brussels had been expected to focus on how the EU would reach its goal of cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent by 2020, but was overtaken by failing banks, plunging stock markets and warnings of recession.
The 27-nation bloc hopes to lead the world in battling global warming, mindful of U.N. predictions of more extreme weather and rising sea levels.
Eastern European countries and some of Europe's traditional industries say the plan is too costly in light of the crisis, but several EU leaders said that rescuing the economy and the planet could go hand in hand.
"It is not time for the EU to go backwards, we have to be the frontrunners," said Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen.
But Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia made a joint statement calling for the rest of the EU to recognize their economic difficulties.
Italy called for more flexible ways of reaching the goals.
European employment chief Vladimir Spidla said jobs lost in Europe's older industries could be balanced by jobs created in new green industries -- such as wind turbines or electric cars.
The move to a new economy could create opportunities for European companies, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said.
"What is at stake is a competition worldwide over who will be the leaders -- which companies will bring the most effective products to market first, at the right time and the best price."
OIL
Some leaders linked the climate change battle to EU efforts to reduce the bloc's dependence on oil and gas imports.
Energy security has soared to the top of the EU agenda since Russia's invasion of Georgia highlighted the frailty of a key transit route for gas to enter Europe from the Caspian region -- a route aimed at reducing EU dependence on Russian energy.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Europe's move to a low-carbon economy would help reduce costly and volatile oil imports and protect it from sudden disruptions to supply.
"If the last year showed anything, it is that we must deal with the climate change problem, because oil is less affordable than it was, because energy security is more important than it was," he said.
That was echoed by Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who highlighted the danger of depending on oil imports, which often come from politically unstable regions.
While few nations have questioned the EU's targets for cutting carbon emissions, several have problems with the proposals for achieving them.
Italy's minister for EU affairs, Andrea Ronchi, told Reuters Italy agreed with the bloc's target for cutting CO2, but wanted more flexibility in how to achieve that goal cost-effectively.
"If we don't have more flexibility, Italy will have to carry a burden that is much heavier than that of other EU countries, and this would make reaching our targets much more difficult," Ronchi said. "Flexibility will allow us to keep ambitions high."
An Italian government source said Rome wanted freedom to offset CO2 emitted at home by paying for cuts in emissions from developing countries, and for the right to meet targets by building renewable energy projects abroad such as solar power in north Africa.
(Additional reporting by Marcin Grajewski and Ingrid Melander)
