EU leaders pledge billions to battle climate change

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (C) talks with Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor (R) and Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates (L) during the second-day meeting of the EU summit at EU headquarters in Brussels, capital of Belgium, on Dec. 11, 2009.(Xinhua/Wu Wei)

Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen (L) talks with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso before the start of the second-day meeting of the EU summit at EU headquarters in Brussels, capital of Belgium, on Dec. 11, 2009.(Xinhua/Thierry Monasse)

BRUSSELS, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- European Union leaders on Friday pledged 2.4 billion euros (3.5 billion U.S. dollars) annually from 2010 to 2012 to help developing countries tackle climate change.

The pledge was seen as a move to boost the ongoing U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen.

Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said at a news conference that the 27-member bloc has made satisfactory contributions to help the poorest countries to combat climate change.

Talking about financial assistance for developing countries by 2020, he said the bloc was wiling to "contribute their fair share" if other countries made similar contributions.

The European Commission has estimated that some 5 to 7 billion euros (7 to 10 billion dollars) a year is likely to be needed in 2010-2012 and some 10 billion euros (15 billion dollars) a year is needed by 2020 for developing countries to fight climate change.

Reinfeldt also reiterated the EU's stance on climate change, saying that the bloc is always committed to its conditional offer.

He said the EU had pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020 compared with 1990 levels and was ready to lift the number to 30 percent if similar pledges were made by developed countries.