EU ministers agree position for UN Kyoto talks

EU environment ministers agreed the bloc's negotiating strategy for upcoming global talks on a successor regime to the Kyoto protocol on Monday. The resolution lacks detail to avoid unsettling countries reluctant to discuss timetables and targets for post-2012 emission cuts.

Ministers decided to drop references to the EU's desire that industrialised countries should cut emissions by up to 30% by 2020. The target - agreed by EU heads of government in March - had been in earlier drafts of "council conclusions" setting out the EU position ahead of the first meeting of Kyoto protocol parties in Montreal in December.