EU SAYS NO TO GREENHOUSE GAS PLAN.(MAIN)

Byline: ANTHONY DEUTSCH Associated Press

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- The European Union rejected a proposal Thursday from the United States, Japan and Canada on how to cut levels of gases that are suspected of raising the Earth's temperature.

The U.S.-led plan, which environmental groups also harshly rejected, suggests using so-called carbon ``sinks'' -- forests and lands that absorb carbon dioxide pollution -- to help meet targets of carbon dioxide reduction agreed to under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

The 15-nation European Union said it opposes the proposal because it ``does not ensure the environmental integrity of the Kyoto Protocol.''

The rejection on the fourth day of the conference set the stage for a tough battle when environment ministers arrive next week at the U.N. Climate Conference.

They are expected to agree to concrete measures to combat global warming.

Under the Kyoto Protocol, reached at a meeting in Japan, world leaders agreed to lower global ``greenhouse'' gas emissions before 2012 by 5.2 percent from their 1990 levels.

The EU statement added that the U.S. proposal was too vague and ``open ended.''

The U.S. plan also envisions agriculture and woodland projects that would count as reductions in atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide without requiring curbs in emissions from factory smokestacks.

Some industrial countries have such extensive forests that they could meet their entire targets without changing the release of pollution.

U.S. officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday that they plan to meet half their Kyoto targets with credits from sinks.

Otherwise, the officials said, the United States would never have agreed to the protocol.

Under the Kyoto agreement, Europe would cut 8 percent off its 1990 emission levels; Japan would reduce output 6 percent; and the United States would trim 7 percent. Another point of contention that will face government ministers in the second week of talks is the issue of emission credit trading, whereby rich nations would be able to purchase emissions credits from less polluting countries.