Whether Gordon Brown will be successful in his attempts to bring more on board remains in doubt. Most of Western Europe is at least discussing the cuts, where the environment is a high priority. As politicians look at the issues that they can positively impact to win voters, the environment is quite high on the list these days. It's not a controversial issue as it is in the US. Most politicians over this way see that the economy is tough ground with limited prospects so they are turning to issues such as this where they can deliver some amount of results. (However feeble they may be.) The Guardian:
The prime minister told the Guardian he hoped the EU would agree to cut its output of greenhouse gases by 30% on 1990 levels by 2020 – a cut 10 percentage points deeper than Europe is currently offering. So far, the EU has said it will cut by 30% only if an ambitious global deal is reached.
Brown said: "We've got to make countries recognise that they have to be as ambitious as they say they want to be. It's not enough to say 'I may do this, I might do this, possibly I'll do this'. I want to create a situation in which the European Union is persuaded to go to 30%."
Any move to increase Europe's emissions reduction target would be fiercely resisted by eastern European countries as well as Italy and Austria, who have opposed deeper cuts.
