According to press reports on April 2, the top environmental official of the European Union (EU) blasted the U.S. for its policy toward climate change, as the EU begins work on the latest report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Stavros Dimas, the European environment commissioner, said that the EU expects "the United States to cooperate closer and not to continue having a negative attitude in international negotiations." He added that it is essential that the U.S. "move, because otherwise other countries, especially the fast-developing countries, do not have any reason to move."
A meeting at the European Commission began on April 2 to discuss the second part of what will be a four-part series released by the IPCC. A "summary for policymakers" will be available on Friday, April 6. According to Michael Oppenheimer from Princeton, the next section, to be publicly released on April 14th, will draw from the previous section and will include information so that governments will know where standards of living for "their citizens may be headed this century."
The third section, due to be released on May 4, will explore strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to mitigate global warming.
Heat trapping gases have increased by 16 percent since 1990 in the U.S. according to Dimas. The 27 members of the EU have cut their emissions to the 8 percent level dictated by the Kyoto Protocol and have agreed to further reduce them by 20% by 2020. Dimas also encouraged the Australian government to act, as 80 percent of its population would support it.