Europe presses Washington to do more on climate

GOTHENBURG, Sweden (Reuters) - The European Union increased pressure on the United States on Friday to do more to secure a global deal on fighting climate change this year as talks have stalled.

The EU's 27 finance ministers, meeting in Sweden, believe President Barack Obama's administration should show more leadership to convince poor countries to sign up to climate agreement that would replace the Kyoto Protocol after 2012.

"We need U.S. support. We need stronger U.S. action on climate change," Swedish Finance Minister Anders Borg told a news conference. Sweden holds the EU's rotating presidency in the second half of 2009.

He added Washington was making "good sounds" on climate, but they still needed to be translated into action.

World leaders will try to clinch a deal on long-term cuts in emissions of gases that cause global warning at a December summit in Copenhagen.

But developing countries demand massive aid in exchange for committing to lower carbon dioxide emissions, saying countries such as the United State and those in Western Europe have burned a lot of fossil fuels in the process of creating wealth.

The EU is already discussing concrete aid figures, ranging from 2 billion euros ($2.91 billion) to 15 billion euros annually until 2020, depending on how ambitious the deal will be. But the U.S. has not yet named its possible contribution.

But Borg and Denmark Finance Minister Claus Hjort voiced optimism about a deal in Copenhagen.

"I think we have seen some good moves lately, the Chinese moved, the Japanese moved, so we are quite confident that it's within reach, getting an agreement in Copenhagen," Fredriksen told reporters.

CARBON TAX

But the EU ministers were still at odds on how the EU should finance its contribution, with Poland opposing current plans.

Poland is worried the EU's contribution could be based on member states' CO2 emission levels, which could prove costly for the country that depends heavily on coal for power generation.

"From our point of view it is totally unacceptable that the poor countries of Europe should help the rich countries of Europe to help the poor countries in the rest of the world," said Polish Finance Minister Jan Rostowski.

The ministers were trying to bridge their differences ahead of a possible final debate that will take place at their next meeting in Luxembourg on October 19-20.

At the meeting, the European Commission floated an idea of slapping a pan-EU carbon tax on emitters that now rest outside the EU's Emission Trading System, which embraces power generators and some heavy industrial plants.

The areas include transport, agriculture, forestry households and others.

"Introducing a new tax in the EU has never been easy, and particularly it's not easy in the time of a financial and economic crisis," EU Tax Commissioner Laszlo Kovacs said.

"But it is evident that the climate change is an even more disastrous global challenge than the current financial and economic crisis. It's a question of life or death for the population of the globe."

He added the Commission would propose the tax next year.

French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde said a tax on financial transactions could be used to finance the battle against climate change, although many politicians and experts play down prospects of introducing such a levy.

(Additional reporting by Mia Shanley, Niklas Pollard, Krista Hughes and Julien Toyer; editing by Keiron Henderson)