POZNAN, Poland, Dec 11, 2008 (AFP) - The European Union summit in Brussels on Thursday holds "great consequences for the whole world," which looks to the EU for leadership on climate change, UN chief Ban Ki-moon warned. "What we need today is leadership," Ban said at the start of a two-day ministerial-level meeting in Poznan to round off the United Nations climate talks. "We look for leadership from the European Union. The decisions currently being made by European leaders in Brussels are (of) great consequences for the whole world." Ban also called for a "Green New Deal" under which part of the massive stimulus to tackle the world financial crisis would be devoted to weaning economies from carbon pollution.
EU leaders, meeting in Brussels on Thursday and Friday, face rifts on how to implement a scheme to slash European greenhouse-gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020 compared with the benchmark year of 1990. It is the most ambitious target set by any advanced economy. The Poznan forum, under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), is tasked with advancing towards a new global pact for braking the dangerous rise in greenhouse-gas emissions, blamed for damaging the world's climate system. The EU has championed demands for tough measures, and its internal row on how to achieve the 2020 goal has sparked fears that this could cripple momentum in the global process. Ban praised president-elect Barack Obama for declaring the fight against global warming and ending America's dependence on fossil fuels a priority of his administration. "We look for leadership from the United States," the UN secretary-general also said in his speech. "It is therefore encouraging to hear about the incoming administration's plan to put alternative energy, environmentalism and climate change at the very centre of America's definition of national security, economic recovery and prosperity."
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