Developing nations may have to wait on climate aid

Developing countries could be made to wait until the UN climate talks in Copenhagen in December before the EU reveals how much money it will give them to cope with the effects of global warming, the Swedish EU presidency said yesterday.

Swedish Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren told journalists the EU would be prepared to provide financial assistance but should not commit to any figures ahead of the talks aimed at forging a deal to tackle climate change after the existing Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.

"There can be related to the negotiations (in Denmark) a reason to wait for the numbers," Carlgren said. His comments came during an informal meeting of EU environment ministers in Aare, central Sweden.

German State Secretary for the Environment Matthias Machnig echoed Carlgren's views, saying that it would be better for the EU "to wait a bit".

"It is not very clever to put all aces on the table when you are playing poker," he said.

His Austrian counterpart Nikolaus Berlakovich told AFP he believed Europe was more likely to reveal its hand on the eve of the summit, which runs from December 7 to 18.

"I don't believe any figures will be announced in October," he said, referring to a meeting between European heads of state and government that could give the Swedish presidency a full mandate to negotiate at the talks.

Britain's State Secretary for Energy and Climate Change Ed Miliband, however, said he hoped a package for emerging economies could be put together at that time.

"We can't leave it to the last night in Copenhagen before reaching an agreement," he told AFP.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown suggested last month that poorer nations would need as much as €100 billion a year to help them adjust to climate change, while the European Commission has suggested a figure of €30 billion.