EU climate deal a failure, claim greens

ENVIRONMENTAL groups yesterday condemned as a "failure" the climate change and energy deal agreed by EU leaders yesterday.

A coalition of green groups and aid agencies described the deal as a "dark day for European climate policy", in which governments had reneged on promises and turned their back on efforts to tackle global warming.

The agreement commits EU governments to the "Triple-20" challenge – cutting emissions by 20 per cent by 2020, getting at least 20 per cent of energy requirements from renewable sources, and achieving an overall 20 per cent cut in energy use by 2020.

Campaigners said the deal allowed about two-thirds of the emissions reductions to be "offset" by paying for projects outside Europe, rather than making cuts at home.