The European Union vowed at UN climate talks on Tuesday that it will strengthen its carbon-cutting commitment, insisting that the bloc was not "backtracking" in the face of the Ukraine war.

Armed with new plans to curb greenhouse gases, the EU says it will be able to exceed its original plan to cut emissions by 55 percent by 2030 with a new goal of over 57 percent, from 1990 levels.

"The European Union is here to move forwards, not backwards," European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans told delegates in the Egyptian seaside resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

He denied the bloc was in a "dash for gas" in response to the invasion of Ukraine by fossil fuel exporter Russia.

"So don't let anybody tell you here or outside that the EU is backtracking," he said.

Campaigners said the EU announcement did not go far enough.

"This small increase announced today at COP27 doesn't do justice to the calls from the most vulnerable countries at the front lines," said Chiara Martinelli, of Climate Action Network Europe.

"If the EU, with a heavy history of emitting greenhouse gases, doesn't lead on mitigating climate change, who will?"

In October, the European Environment Agency warned that Europe was not on track to meet that target, after greenhouse gas emissions rebounded in 2021 due to the post-pandemic recovery.

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S.African power producers get EUR400 million green loan
Johannesburg (AFP) Nov 11, 2022
Independent power producers in South Africa on Friday secured 400 million euros from the European Union and a local bank to help boost clean energy in the coal dependent country. The EU's lending arm the European Investment Bank (EIB) signed the deal with the government-owned Development Bank Of Southern Africa (DBSA) at the COP27 climate summit in Egypt, they said in a statement. The EIB will provide 200 million euros ($206 million) while DBSA and the Green Climate Fund (GCF) will each contri ... read more