European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso Wednesday said Russia had committed itself to steeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions than previously agreed, a move that comes only three weeks before international climate change talks in Copenhagen.
"I very much welcome the signal from President [Dmitry] Medvedev today on the proposed emission reduction target of 25%. This is very encouraging," Barroso said, speaking to reporters after an E.U.-Russia summit in Stockholm.
In a statement issued after the talks, Barroso put the commitment to lower emissions 20%-25% by 2020 from the level in 1990.
Russian Ambassador to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, said in a conference call that Russia's cuts to its CO2 emissions could be between 22% and 25% by 2020.
"What was stressed in particular at the summit was the need to engage the private sector," the ambassador said.
Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said the parties were in agreement on a maximum 2 degree Celsius increase in temperature and the need for further reductions of harmful emissions to achieve it.
"Russia is one of the world's greatest emitting countries, so it has an important role to play if the world is to reach a climate agreement in Copenhagen," Reinfeldt said. "We also agreed that we should stick to the CO2 target of reducing CO2 emissions by 20%," he added.