EU sets new climate change target

The European Union's executive branch proposed the 27-nation bloc reduce emissions by at least 20% by 2020 compared to 1990 levels, and called on other developed nations to cut their emissions by 30 percent. EU puts climate change at heart of energy policy. EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Europe must embrace a low-carbon economy and lead the world into a "post-industrial revolution." The EU has repeatedly called on the United States - the world's biggest polluter - to join its fight for reducing emissions.  The United States has refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol, which requires industrial nations to cut their global-warming gases by an average 5% below 1990 levels by 2012.  The Commission proposed that renewable energy sources, such as wind, make up 20 percent of the EU's energy mix by 2020. The EU energy strategy will be debated by environment ministers in Brussels next month.