European environment ministers Today urged the United States to show leadership and spell out its plans for cutting greenhouse gas emission, dpa reported. Danish Climate and Energy Minister Connie Hedegaard, who will chair a key United Nations climate change summit in Copenhagen in December, said the move would encourage other big polluters such as China to follow suit. "The sooner the US can specify, and be concrete in its position, the sooner we can expect some signals coming out of Beijing," Hedegaard told German Press Agency dpa during a meeting of Group of Eight environment ministers in Syracuse, Sicily. Sweden's Andreas Carlgren, who will hold the European Union presidency during the second half of this year, reinforced her message, telling journalists there was "no doubt that developed countries should take the lead." "We are still waiting for other big developed countries to deliver ambitious emission targets," Carlgren said, noting that merely stabilizing emissions would not be enough to prevent global warming. The ministers' comments came as the head of the United States' Environmental Protection Agency, Lisa Jackson, arrived in Sicily to hold talks with fellow G8 officials. The G8 meeting in Sicily was also being attended by officials from major developing nations such as China, India and Brazil. Asked about China's reluctance to commit itself to clear emission targets in Copenhagen, the Danish minister said she understood it as "part of the negotiating game".
