EU agrees on climate change package

EU leaders agreed to contribute generously towards the estimated €22 billion to €50bn a year developing countries will need to deal with climate change.

The EU hopes the sums and the cuts of up to 95% in emissions by 2050 will encourage the US, China, India, Canada and others to make similar commitments at next month’s global UN conference on a new climate change deal.

Exactly how much the EU and each member state will contribute to this huge sum has yet to be worked out but it will take into account a country’s GDP, its greenhouse gas emissions and its ability to pay.