Gore calls on EU to take critical role in cutting gas emissions

Europe's commitment to tackle global warming faces a key test today as EU leaders seek to overcome deep divisions over a pledge to boost the use of renewable energy such as wind and solar power.

At a summit in Brussels, EU heads of government will sign a binding promise to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent by 2020, a figure that would rise to 30 per cent if there is an agreement by countries in the rest of the world to follow suit.

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However, Germany, which holds the EU presidency, faces a rebellion over its plan to insist that the EU generate a fifth of its energy from renewables. Around a dozen nations have objections, and the Czech Republic and Slovakia are among those who will press for any target to be non-binding. The dispute has also revived the debate about the role of nuclear power in meeting climate change objectives.

The importance of the issues at stake were underlined by Al Gore, the former American vice-president and environmental activist, who said on a visit to Brussels that the EU had an "absolutely critical leadership role to play". Mr Gore argued: "I'm trying to get my country to change its policies but in the meantime the European Union is absolutely key to helping the world make the changes it must."

An ambitious deal would help Germany, which chairs the G8 group of industrialised countries as well as the EU, to apply pressure on other key players when it holds a summit in June.

Meanwhile, EU leaders will adopt the less radical of two options to liberalise the energy market. Under this proposal, the Continent's energy giants will be able to keep ownership of distribution systems as well as power generation so long as the two are operated separately.

The main area of contention is the manner in which Europe should cut back its reliance on fossil fuels. EU leaders have agreed that, by 2020, 10 per cent of transport fuels should come from biofuels made from crops such as rape seed or sugar cane. Several countries believe that figure is wildly over-ambitious.

Jan Kohout, the Czech Republic's ambassador to the EU, said his country has "a negative position on the binding limits" of 20 per cent for renewables. He added: "We are not able to go above 8-9 per cent of renewables because of the geographic situation of the country." Landlocked and with no fast-flowing rivers the Czech potential for renewables projects is limited .

Germany, which has made a big investment in wind farms, will try to get an agreement which could be based on a "burden sharing" solution. This would mean that countries that have well-advanced renewable projects, such as Denmark and Spain, would compensate for the backmarkers like the Czech Republic. Another solution proposed by France is that the focus should be on "non-carbon" targets - rather than just renewables - thereby bringing nuclear energy into the equation. But that is being opposed by Germany, Austria and Ireland.

Environmentalists are also up in arms. Caroline Lucas, a British Green MEP, argued: "If nuclear power is considered a renewable energy source this agreement will be effectively worthless. France ... won't have to lift a finger to cut its energy emissions, and the UK we could see state subsidies designed to boost green energy production being spent on building nuclear power stations."

But the Environment Secretary David Miliband said: "People could look back [on] March 2007 as a turning point where the politics of climate change caught up with the science."

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