The slowing economy and financial crisis are testing Europe’s goal of becoming a world leader in greenhouse gas reduction.

Industry has seized on the slowdown to lobby for delayed or watered down regulations, arguing that directives set out by the European Commission earlier this year would force them to cut jobs or relocate factories outside the European Union.

Some politicians also acknowledge that the financial crisis could hinder efforts to forge international agreements on reducing emissions.

“This crisis changes priorities,” Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German foreign minister, last week told a conference on transatlantic climate and energy cooperation in Berlin. “One cannot rule out that interest in protecting the climate will change because of such a crisis.”

On Tuesday the European Parliament’s environmental committee is to vote on measures at the heart of the EU’s commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent by 2020.

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