European Union environment ministers have suggested developed nations make sweeping cuts in their greenhouse gas emissions in the years after 2012.

That is when the Kyoto protocol ends. The ministers are looking at cuts of between 15 and 30 per cent by 2020 and then a whopping 60 to 80 per cent by 2050. Their recommendations go against the EU executive Commission which said last month it was too early to set targets post 2012. Instead it said it would be better to focus on pulling the US and developing nations into the climate change fight. But the environment ministers said they wanted their countries to send what they described as a strong political message on global warming.

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