HELSINKI (Reuters) - Representatives of the United States and the European Union are meeting this Tuesday in Helsinki to try to agree on ways to reduce greenhouse gases despite their dispute over the Kyoto protocol.
The two-day talks will focus on climate change, clean energy and sustainable development.
"This meeting underlines that the European Union and the United States share common objectives," declared the head of the American delegation, Paula Dobriansky, American Under Secretary for Democracy and Global Affairs.
"We are working on a variety of issues, such as renewables and biofuels."
EU countries continue to criticize the United States' withdrawal from Kyoto which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to curb global warming. The European Union adopted the protocol while the United States, which emits about a quarter of the planet's greenhouse gases, withdrew from it in 2001 at the initiative of George Bush.
The President of the United States notably criticizes the protocol for excluding developing countries until 2012. Instead, he unilaterally set himself for less restrictive objectives such as lowering the quantity by 18% between 2002 and 2012 of carbon emitted for every dollar produced.
The discussions on Tuesday and Wednesday, the principle of which was agreed in June at a summit, are organized by the Finnish Minister for the Environment Jan-Erik Enestam, whose country holds the presidency of the European Union until the end of the year.
"A global challenge requires global solutions," the Finnish government says in the headline about climate change on its website.
Finnish Minister of Commerce and Industry Mauri Pekkarinen will participate in the meeting, as will the United States Under Secretary of Energy David Garman. The European Commission will also be represented, as will Germany, who will take over the EU presidency in January.
source: Yahoo news
