Greens says Germany deserved EU rebuke on emissions

COLOGNE, Germany, Dec 2 (Reuters) Germany richly deserved the stinging rebuke it got from the European Commission this week for its inadequate efforts on fighting climate change, the leader of the opposition Greens party said.

Greens party co-chairwoman Claudia Roth said Chancellor Angela Merkel and Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel had put the interests of energy suppliers ahead of fighting climate change and had undermined the EU emissions trading scheme (ETS).

''Gabriel has been running away from the 'inconvenient truth' and trying to dilute the EU's carbon emissions trading system while climbing into bed with coal-burning power companies,'' Roth told 850 delegates at a party congress in this western city esterday.

''That's why Germany deserved to get admonished by Brussels,'' she said, adding the country had lost its way in the fight against climate change. ''Germany should be at the forefront of pushing for more radical steps and a truly effective C02 market.'' On Wednesday, the European Commission sharpened its main weapon for fighting climate change, demanding steep cuts in their carbon dioxide emissions plans for 2008-2012.

Germany had said it would cut its CO2 quota in 2008-2012 to 465 million tonnes per year from 482 million. But the Commission slashed that figure further to 453 million tonnes per annum.

Economy Minister Michael Glos dismissed the EU move as ''totally unacceptable''. Germany is Europe's biggest polluter.

The scheme's first phase from 2005-2007 came close to collapse when 2005 data showed governments gave industry more emissions permits than needed and carbon prices crashed.

The Commission tried to restore lost credibility, demanding a nearly seven percent cut in the total allowance that 10 EU countries proposed for 2008-2012.

The Economy Ministry said yesterday it will ignore the Commission's targets and was ready for a legal challenge.

Germany has said it will put climate change at the top of its agenda during its presidencies of the Group of 8 and EU next year.

''Gabriel needs to make a decision -- does he want to protect the climate or protect the interests of the power companies?'' said Roth, accusing the government of hypocrisy. ''We don't need any more hot air from him. We need a new radical approach.'' Roth, whose party was junior partners in Chancellor Gerhard Schoeder's Social Democrat-Greens government from 1998-2005, said climate protection was the central political issue now and would remain the case in the years ahead.

''We need Germany and the EU to be leaders in fighting climate change,'' she said. ''We need to to act now. We need a tax on jet fuels. We need a clear ecological move to the market.'' REUTERS SBA BST0628