EU Commission delays emissions trading proposals

LISBON - The European Commission will postpone to January proposals on emissions trading and on renewable energy, a spokesman for the EU executive said on Friday.

"It won't be for December but for January," Commission spokesman Johannes Laitenberger said on the sidelines of a summit in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon.

Laitenberger said the delay would allow the EU to take into account the outcome of a U.N. meeting on climate change due in Bali in December to shape a global deal for when the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.

The EU agreed in March to cut emissions blamed for global warming by 20 percent by 2020 compared to 1990 levels and 30 percent if the rest of the world joins in.

The Commission said earlier this year it would issue a plan in December that lays out how the targets should be distributed. That legislation, often referred to as "burden sharing," will then have to be endorsed by national governments.

The draft legislation will include changes to the bloc's emissions trading scheme and national targets for another EU goal of having 20 percent of its energy come from renewable sources by 2020.

Laitenberger said the Commission was currently involved in consultations with EU member states on its proposals.