Duitsland en Commissie oneens over CO2-vermindering (en)

Germany has reacted with irritation to a European Commission decision to slash its allowances to emit greenhouse gasses, calling the move "adventurous" and terming Brussels' handling of the issue as "the opposite of transparency."

EU environment commissioner Stavros i Dimas on Wednesday (29 November) told Germany and eight other member states that their national pollution-reducing plans for the are too weak, demanding from Berlin that it reduce its carbon emissions by six percent to 453.1 million tonnes per year.

But FT Deutschland reports that Germany - the biggest polluter in the EU - immediately called Brussels' move into question with German environment minister Sigmar Gabriel calling the decision an "adventurous procedure."

Mr Gabriel said the commission's method of calculating CO2 emissions had been unknown until the last minute, saying "this is the opposite of the transparency which is needed for emissions trading."

It is the commission's obligation to "not hold member states in the dark," he said explaining that Brussels' calculations were wrong as they had not taken on board the latest figures by Berlin providing for an additional reduction of 20 million tonnes of greenhouse gasses a year.

According to Mr Gabriel, the commission at the last minute took France off the list of sinners it presented on Wednesday following French government pressure - something which he said had happened before and which "we should talk about."

Paris would otherwise have been told to slash emissions by as much as 14 percent, the German minister said.

Member states' so-called "national allocation plans" judged by the commission are part of the EU's Emission Trading Scheme (ETS), under which companies can trade their pollution credits.

The scheme is the EU's main tool in meeting its commitments in the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, under which the bloc has agreed to cut its carbon emissions by 8 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.

But EU capitals are keen to ensure the ETS does not hurt their own industrial competitiveness, with Mr Gabriel saying Germany is only prepared to further slash emissions if other member states do the same.

There would be "exciting weeks" ahead on the matter, he noted.