The European Union set out new climate and energy goals for 2030 on Wednesday, proposing less stringent targets than in the past in a reflection of tougher economic circumstances and a desire to limit rising energy costs.
The bloc's executive – the European Commission – said EU governments should face a single binding target to cut their carbon emissions by 40 percent compared with 1990 levels.
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That represents a doubling of ambition compared with an existing 2020 target to reduce emissions by a fifth, but is below what some scientists and environmentalists say is needed to prevent the worst effects of climate change.
Current national targets designed to raise the share of renewable energy to 20 percent would not be renewed after 2020. Instead, the Commission is recommending a modest EU-wide goal of 27 percent renewables without hard and fast national targets.
(Read more: EU considersscrapping 2030 binding renewables targets)
That would allow Britain and others to meet their emissions targets for example by building more nuclear power plants, which are carbon-free but not renewable.
"What we are presenting today is both ambitious and affordable," Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said.
