The European Union (EU) intends to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 30 percent if a sufficiently ambitious agreement is reached in Copenhagen, Sweden's environment minister Andreas Carlgren said Saturday.

The heads of state and government have decided that the EU will contribute with a 30 percent reduction in emissions by 2020, compared with 1990 levels, Carlgren said during a two-day informal meeting of the environment ministers in Are, 630 km northwest of the capital city Stockholm.

"Our offer is not unconditional. We will use the increase from 20 to 30 percent as a lever to gain adequate offers from other countries," he said.

Carlgren said the EU countries will work together to increase the possibilities of reaching an ambitious climate change agreement with sufficient global emissions reductions and financing.

"The EU will give its full and final mandate for the talks in Copenhagen (in December). We need clear reductions in emissions, both from industrialized countries and rapidly growing economies,”he said.

The European Parliament approved a binding commitment last year to cut EU greenhouse gas emissions to 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. The European Commission said Thursday it wanted targets for energy efficiency improvements to be made mandatory.

(Xinhua News Agency July 26, 2009)