S&D rapporteur Dan Jørgensen welcomed the strong message of the resolution passed this morning by the EP to request a 30 per cent reduction of CO2 emissions before 2020.

Mr Jørgensen said: "It is a good sign for the negotiating partners in Cancun and an opportunity for the EU to take the lead after the shortcomings of the last UN climate summit in Copenhagen."

The leader of the EP delegation to Cancun Jo Leinen said: "An increase in the EU's emission reduction targets from 20 per cent to 30 per cent is in the economic interest of the EU. We should not make our action conditional on that of others. The EU needs to fulfil its leadership role and must not accept standstill in the international climate negotiations"

S&D vice-president Marita Ulvskog said: "The UN expects us Europeans to show leadership. That is what UN chief Cristina Figueras just told those of us going to Cancun from the European Parliament. One way of doing it is by implementing exactly everything that we promised back in Copenhagen. Not almost everything, absolutely everything to the letter."

In the resolution passed this morning the EP regrets that the EU is not on track to meet the 20 per cent energy-saving target by 2020 set by heads of state due to the nonbinding approach and they request better monitoring and accountability.

Led by progressive MEPs, the EP calls on the Commission and the member states to mobilise new financial resources for adaptation and mitigation in developing countries so that no financing is taken from the Millennium Development Goals' objectives.

S&D deplore that the conservatives don't bring any ideas on how to finance mitigation and adaptation of developing countries, and that they voted against the progressive proposal to introduce a financial transaction tax.

The 0,01 per cent levy on financial transactions would yield 20 billion euros per year, an amount that would help developing countries adapt to climate change.

The concept of 'climate justice' needs to be introduced in the debate, as the resolution recommends. Developing countries have contributed the least to climate change but face the most severe consequences.

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