(L-R) Finland's Prime Minister Alexander Stubb, Netherlands' Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and Lithuania's President Dalia Grybauskaite attend an European Union leaders summit in Brussels October 23, 2014. EU leaders aim to agree a new decade of energy policy to cut climate-warming gas emissions to 2030 at an EU summit on Thursday, but sharp differences over sharing the cost mean a deal will be difficult. [Photo/Agencies]

The European Union has set a binding target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent in the next 16 years. Starting from 2005 base figures the objective must be reached by 2030, a European leaders' summit in Brussels decided.

It also announced a binding target of at least 27 percent for the share of renewable energy consumed in the EU in 2030.

Brussels has taken the lead in encouraging other global players to demonstrate their willingness to set carbon-reduction targets for the period between 2020 and 2030 and at next year's United Nations climate summit in Paris a new global deal is expected to be reached.

Annual negotiations under a UN framework will be held in Lima, Peru in early December.