BERLIN - Germany\'s Greens, junior partners in the coalition government, said this week they would urge the EU to set new targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions which go beyond those agreed under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.
Germany to press EU for new greenhouse gas targets
\"We want an EU agreement to cut emissions of gases that damage the environment by 30 percent compared with 1990 levels by 2020,\" the chairman of the Greens, Fritz Kuhn, told a news conference.
\"If we are successful in this, the German government will cut carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent (compared to 1990 levels) by 2020.\"
Under the Kyoto accord, the European Union has to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by eight percent of 1990 levels by 2012.
Scientists say emissions of gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2) in fuel combustion are causing a greenhouse effect, warming up the atmosphere.
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder\'s Social Democrats are in the middle of working out a new government programme with the Greens after the coalition narrowly won re-election last month.
The coalition agreement is due to be completed by the first sitting of parliament on October 17.
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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