2010/12/13

(BN) EU Should Target 30% Emissions Reduction by 2020,

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EU Should Target 30% Emissions Reduction by 2020, Hendry Says
2010-12-13 15:28:18.616 GMT


By Robert Tuttle
Dec. 13 (Bloomberg) -- The European Union should tighten
climate change targets to reduce emissions by 30 percent from
1990 levels by 2020, from its current 20 percent reduction goal,
U.K. Minister of State for Energy Charles Hendry said.
"We believe it can be done in a very realistic way without
imposing significantly greater costs on consumers," Hendry said
in an interview in Doha, Qatar today. "We're keen to move it to
30 percent."
Negotiators meeting at the United Nations global climate
summit in Cancun, Mexico, last week failed to agree on emission-
reduction targets. The delegates did endorse a package including
a fund that would manage a "significant share" of the $100
billion annually pledged last year in aid for poorer nations by
2020 and a plan to reduce deforestation.
The U.K. has pledged to get 15 percent of its energy from
renewable sources by 2020 and reduce carbon-dioxide emissions by
80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050. Achieving this will require
as much as 40,000 megawatts of low-carbon energy projects and a
"radical reform" of the electricity markets, according to a
Dec. 7 Committee on Climate Change report.


For Related News and Information:
U.K. power market stories: TNI UK PWRMARKET <GO>
Top energy news: ETOP <GO>
U.K. electricity prices: ELEU <GO>

--With assistance from Kari Lundgren in London. Editors: Alex
Devine, Stephen Cunningham.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Kari Lundgren in London at +44-20-7073-3442 or
klundgren2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Will Kennedy at +44-20-7073-3603 or
wkennedy3@bloomberg.net.