EU leaders have agreed to pay 7.2bn euros over the next three years to a fund to help developing nations adapt to climate change.
Announcing the deal, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said all 27 EU member nations would contribute. The pledge is more than the EU target of 6bn euros ($9bn; £5.5bn) by 2012, that was originally being discussed. Mr Reinfeldt said the EU was taking its "fair share" to Copenhagen and he hoped other rich nations would do the same.
The deal should boost UN climate talks in Copenhagen after a document prepared by one of the Copenhagen summit's chairmen calls on developed nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25-45% from 1990 levels by 2020. The document is only a draft but leaves the exact figure open to negotiation and does not mention a specific temperature target, following the high profile disputes over the last few days, surrounding the 2C ceiling. Current calculations suggest that a 17% reduction by 2020, based on 1990 levels is currently being tabled. The draft spells out that the emission reductions of developing countries will be managed by the existing protocol and dismisses the idea of creating an entirely new protocol, something many developed nations have been calling for.
Last night, EU leaders battled over how much to pay the international global warming fund, during a climate conference in Brussels.
French President Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, held a joint press conference earlier today. The show of solidarity, outlined plans for the two countries to donate £1.5bn and encourage Europe to increase it emission reduction to 30% by 2020, based on 1990 levels.
The plans of other EU nations remained unclear, as the UK and France join the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark as the only other countries to firmly propose funding. Germany and Eastern European countries remained silence. The details of the different national contributions to the €7.2bn fund remains unclear.
Jerzy Buzek, President of the European Parliament, in reference to the emission reduction targets, told EU leaders on Thursday, "swift, binding, global decisions" were also needed on climate targets.
"I call upon you - put a figure on the table. We demanded this in the European Parliament resolution in November," he said.
Sarkozy gave hope that the EU nations would agree to up their efforts to a 30% emission cut by 2020, based on 1990 levels.