The climate and energy policy adopted by the European Union in December is aimed not only at addressing global warming but the region's energy security and industrial competitiveness, said Christian Egenhofer, a senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Studies in Brussels.
"It has to be understood specifically as an EU package and not as a model for the world," Egenhofer told the Jan. 21 symposium.
Still, Dian Phylipsen of energy research and consultancy firm Ecofys International suggested that EU discussions on the latest package may provide some clue as to how international talks for a post-Kyoto Protocol framework could reach an agreement.